Pat & Anna Scioli
Brand Name Designer Suits from Italy Sports Jackets • Pants • Dress Shirts Ties • Cashmere Top Coats Custom Alterations for men & women 1744 E. Passyunk Avenue 215.334.0990 is cut off the top and bottom of the containers and push them into the soil around your plants. Cats are cute except when they use your garden as a litter box. Discourage their visit by putting orange peels and coffee grounds around the plants, which makes good fertilizer, too!
On the porch or patio Flies don’t like cayenne pepper so mix some with water and put it in a spray bottle! You could also put cloves in a half lemon and leave it in a dish. It should do the job nicely. Cucumbers aren’t a favorite of flies (or ants) so keeping slices in areas where you are seeing the pests should discourage them from taking up semi-permanent residence. Citronella is everywhere this time of year because it works. Whether in plant form or in candles, bugs hate the smell but the lemony scent is non-offensive to us! Lemon eucalyptus oil is another option for repelling pests including mosquitoes. Garlic is delicious in many dishes so go out of your way to eat plenty of it. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of research behind it but garlic lovers swear it keeps the mosquitos away.
Hiking Instead of slathering on the bug spray, put some dryer sheets in your pockets to keep gnats and other insects out of your way. Vanilla extract is another unsavory smell to bugs. Though onions and garlic do the trick, too, you might not want to smell like the latter. Lemongrass, lavender and mint are other fragrances that repel bugs. Stop and smell the roses! When you are sweating and stressing, your body releases odors that attract bugs. So find
your center and stay calm. By the way, while smelling the roses, make sure you don’t smell like them! The scent of flowers and fruits in your perfumes or body products attracts pests. Opt for fragrance-free. Wear light colored clothing to keep you cooler AND repel bugs. Mosquitoes like dark colored clothes best. Cover up as much as you can tolerate and wear tighter woven clothing so they have trouble getting to your skin.
For your backyard picnic Ants have a way of finding food so throw off their scent and draw a line of chalk on the pavement around your eating area. Ants don’t like to walk through chalk because it interferes with their ability to follow the trail of scent left by other ants. White vinegar may not go well with the meal you are serving but if you can tolerate the scent, it has the same effect on ants that chalk does. Keep some in a spray bottle and spray as needed in places ants tend to congregate. Wasps don’t like any type of mint so soak a few cotton balls in peppermint oil and place them around the outside of your home where wasps like to build nests (porch roofs, under eaves, etc.). Some plants repel wasps (rosemary, fennel, chives, oregano, parsley), so just another reason to grow an herb garden.
Green pest products A great way to find personal care items that are good for you and the environment is by visiting websites that specialize in natural pest repellants and sun protection like ChooseyChick.com. Ingredients are carefully scrutinized and not included on the site unless they are toxin free and safe choices for your whole family.
WAY BEYOND GAME DAY
| rowhome magazine | 81
July / August / September 2017