Gardening Tips | Landscaping Tips | Gardening Ideas

Scotts put out a good overview about Mosquitoes and how to keep them out of your backyard. I agree with most of what they are saying about keeping standing water to a minimum, keeping your grass short, use yellow bulbs. They then, of course, tell about some of their chemical sprays that are available, and I just can’t go along with that. I have a two year old, and I do not want him running through mosquito chemicals when he is playing in the backyard. Instead I have found that there are a few plants out there that mosquitoes do not like. For example, there is the Mosquito Shoo Geranium from Burgess Seed and Plant. According to Howard Garrett, the Dirt Doctor, there are several other things that you can spray that are not toxic. These include garlic pepper tea, Garrett Juice plus citrus oil and Garden-Ville Auntie Fuego. He also suggests putting on lavender and vanilla to avoid getting bit. All great ideas to avoid chemicals. I think chemicals may have their place in some applications, but I try to avoid them when I can.