Tag: repel insects

Planting Lavender and Mint

repel flies

Nothing better than adding a little bit of greenery around the back patio.  J and I took a trip to the local nursery and found some plants to add to our yard.

First, lavender, which is probably some of my favorite.  Then we added some mint.  After some research we found that mint was great to repel insects because of the odor it puts off.

plant_red
Of course these plants didn’t seem to be too time consuming for me.  Both needs to be watered every other day and the plants crave sunshine, which we have ample amounts of.

Here’s what you need:

1) planters – I used one for each plant, a 12″ for lavender and 8″ for the mint.  You want the mint to have more of a shallow pot because of their roots.
2) gravel
3) potting soil
4) gloves

The project took about 30 minutes to finish.

rocks
First, fill the bottom portion of each pot with gravel. This addition will help with drainage.

plants

That’s it. Pretty simple and makes a great addition to any backyard. I can’t wait to keep adding plants and flowers to make our yard a little more homier.

Cheers!

How to Naturally Repel Flies

Flies. I hate them.  Hate. Hate. Hate them.  With summer here and a nice patio that we are wanting to use, J and I have made it our mission to rid our backyard of flies.  We have a new grill and lovely patio set that are calling our names.

So, after some research we have come up with a few ways to repel flies and will document these how-tos.

The first, which is probably the simplest one to do is the Water Bag with Pennies.

You only need three things:

1) Baggie with zipped closure
2) Water
3) Pennies

pennybag pennybag2Fill the bag half-way with water, add the pennies and then seal.  We hung ours in an area where the sunlight would reach.  It is said that the light reflection from the water and pennies bother flies and they avoid the area.

We’ll keep you updated on whether this tactic makes a difference.  We are going to add a few more tactics under our belts too, so be on the look out for those.

Cheers!