If you are trying to minimize pesticide use in your garden, an understanding of trap plants is a good thing. I have allowed some radishes that bolted (started flowering) before growing good-sized roots to continue to grow and flower, simply because their leaves seem to attract the slugs away from the lettuces and carrots. The large plants are lying among the carrots and near the lettuces. The leaves are seriously lacy, but they still attract the slugs left out there, which are fewer all the time. I've collected over 7,900, but the rate of collection is slowing greatly with the heat of summer.
The nasturtiums are supposed to be trap plants for aphids, as well as a tasty radish-y flower for your salad when the weather gets really hot. They're kind of tasteless right now.
The borage plants do not trap anything as far as I know, but the bees seem to like the sweet flowers, and they're supposed to improve the pollination of your garden plants. Strategic interplanting is good when you have tiny beds like mine. We'll see how it goes.
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