My Life

I am a mother of three precious girls, an avid crafter and have recently returned to California after eight years in other states

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Bug Problem

This winter was very mild.  It hardly snowed and none of it lasted more than a couple hours.  I am not a fan of the cold, so a mild winter and early spring seemed ideal to me.  Until, of course, I spent time in the backyard this week.  Out there mosquitos are running rampant and it is only April!  We did not have mosquitos this bad until August of last year.  
Now my problem is how to get rid of the mosquitos so my babies don’t get eaten alive every time I try to introduce them to nature (and yes I'm calling our backyard nature . . . it is very overgrown and there are birds, squirrels and the occasional turtle and snake).   Any neurotoxic chemicals are out because I want to keep things green for the girls’ health.
So to start, we fixed the gaping hole in the gutter downspout that flooded part of our yard every time it rained. Hopefully that will limit their breeding ground. I bought an organic mosquito killer at Home Depot called Ecosmart mosquito and tick control and doused the two lower sections of our tri-level backyard. So far it hasn’t worked as well as I hoped but hopefully it at least got some of them. I’ve seen on Pinterest, how to make your own mosquito repellent using essential oils and will try that next. Anyone have other suggestions (besides moving back to the desert)?

No comments:

Post a Comment