Frugal Ways to Protect You, Your Yard, and Your Trash, From Summer Pests

One thing I like about winter in New England is that all those pesky bugs that have been biting me, invading my home, and eating my flowers, die.

A bit heartless, I know, but good riddance to them, I say.

And now, it’s summer, and they’re back.

I’m plotting my defense.

The criteria -

• frugal home brews, or
• all non-toxic products
• bio-degradable
• only kills the bugs - not me or my neighbor’s children.

Protecting Your Home, Yard and Garden

From Bugs.

• Get a bat house. Bats can eat up to 3000 mosquitoes per night.
• Plant catnip plants, peppermint plants, or sprinkling cinnamon around your house foundation to help keep ants out of your home.
• Take a box of Cream of Wheat cereal and spread it around and over a red ant nest. It will expand inside them after they eat it and kill them.
• Borax can be sprinkled in carpets, beds, furniture and especially around baseboards to help control fleas, roaches and ants. You can leave it in your carpet. For furniture and bedding, leave for at least one hour, then vacuum it up.
• Basil is a natural insect repellent.
• Planting marigolds around your garden can ward off certain types of insects.
  

From Animals.

• Moles are my worst nemesis.

Bounce Fabric Softener – the fragrance in fabric softener, oleander, is a natural repellent. Stuff a few fresh sheets of fabric softener into their tunnel openings, then use dirt to fill in the tunnels.

Coffee Grounds — moles are repelled by coffee grounds, so try spreading some around your yard. Coffee grounds also act as a fertilizer.

Radio & Sealable Freezer Bag — put a portable radio inside a freezer bag, turn it on, and seal the bag shut. Put the bag near the gopher/mole tunnels. Much like a scarecrow, the human noise scares away moles and gophers.

Cat Litter — if you have a cat, try pouring used cat litter into the opening of the mole/gopher tunnels. Cats are natural enemies of moles and gophers and the scent will scare them away.

Human hair or dog hair stuffed in mole holes can frighten them off.

• To battle deer and rabbits try -

DeFense Rabbit and Deer Repellent by HavaHart.

Remember the Slinky? Hang them from tree branches or stretch them across fence posts. They will frighten away deer due to the metallic sound and the shiny reflection.

Water your garden periodically with a solution of one half cup castor oil and two gallons of water. Castor oil drives away rodents, but it also enriches the soil.

Raccoons hate salt.

Protecting Your Garbage

From Bugs -

Hanging bunches of cloves around where your garbage cans sit is going to deter flies from the garbage.

Citrus smell keeps flies away. Citrus fruits around your home and around garbage cans will prevent flies from coming around. A tiny slit in the fruit makes the fragrance stronger.

From Animals -

A squirt of ammonia in your outside trash cans will keep pesky animals out of it.

Other Battles

With Bugs -

• Vicks Vapor Rub on your hands and arms before going into a tick infected area will keep ticks from attacking you.
• Vicks, rubbing alcohol or a mixture of half vanilla/half water on your skin will deter mosquitoes.

From Animals -

• Put a liberal amount of cayenne pepper into your bird seed. Squirrels hate cayenne pepper, but birds can’t taste it.
• Cats hate the smell of citrus fruit.

With Weeds -

• Weeds are not really pests, but they can be really pesky! Hot water will kill most unwanted plants –just boil some water and pour it over the plant you want to kill.

Have any of your own tips?

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