Mosquito War

An article in the local paper about the out-of-control mosquito population due to all of the recent rains definitely supports our experience in the garden lately. What used to be the calming evening round of garden work has turned into a yelling, swearing and swatting match with the swarms of hungry mosquitos that come out to dine as soon as they hear the porch door open. Just thinking about these guys (and looking at all of the bites on my arms) makes my blood boil.

To combat this problem, and ease the mosquito-caused tension, we've mixed up Garlic Spray, a little recipe we found online. Apparently, mosquitos hate the smell of garlic.

"Garlic spray is used with a spray bottle, and applied over the leaves of the plants. The residue usually lasts about a week, but if the plants are outside and exposed to heavy rainfall the garlic spray could be reapplied.

"Garlic spray is made by grinding or mashing about 30 cloves of garlic. These are placed in a glass container and covered with boiling water. The container is then covered and kept for about five days. This makes the garlic concentrate.

"A spray is made by adding three tablespoons of the garlic mix per half liter of water (pint). This is then sprayed on the garden plants."

We also added a citronella torch to the garden, which we've been lighting as we get towards the evening hours. At the store, we thought that the torch we picked out looked really nice, a little more elegant than the Survivor-style torches that you usually see in yards during the summer, and didn't realize the one flaw in the plan: Citronella fuel is yellow. The end result is that we have what seems to be a hanging pot of yellow liquid in the yard, which, to the talented imagination, could be any number of unsavory fluids ...


It's true, you really can grow food! I thought it was just a myth until I tasted these guys last night. We had the first harvest from the garden -- ten basil leaves that were chopped up and added to the pasta sauce. Sweet!


Added Bonus Update: Blueberries. The structure to keep the birds from getting berries is getting closer to being complete. We put in the posts and ran the cable along the top and got half of the netting in place. The photo makes it look like we don't know how to use a level, but that's really just an odditity of my camera and the way it bends straight lines to look crooked depending on the angle from which you're viewing your subject matter. I assure you, the poles are in the ground at strict verticle lines that point directly to the Earth's center.


Flowers in the Yard Tangent #1: Clematis? This nice vine is found on the front railing, along the parking area/driveway. We've been told it's a clematis, though we have no proof yet.


Flowers in the Yard Tangent #2: Peony. A nice little plant with one flower that opened up yesterday. It was all balled up through the last week of rain.