Mosquito Repellent Container Garden Plants and Plans

Mosquito - Garden pest! (wiki)

Did you know that certain plants naturally repel mosquitoes? I should have put in more of these "Mosquito Repellent" plants into my container garden this year.  If more of these mosquito container gardens were on my porch - maybe I would be out there more too! I just created several container garden plans for a client who's children are allergic to mosquito's. While they also contracted with a spray service to control these pests, they wanted to naturalize the garden, lawn and container garden with some easy to grow plants which will also repel mosquitoes. 

Here are plants to use to reduce mosquitoes nibbling on you and your guests. Below, I've also included a few suggestions for container gardens with these, and crafty ways to use them as party decorations too. 

Marigold (wiki)

• Catnip (Nepeta cataria). A perennial for an annual depending on your location, catnip is more effective than DEET at controlling mosquitoes. Cats love the plant and will rip into it if it's in an unprotected garden bed. Plus the plant has a tendency to become invasive. Keep a couple of plants in hanging containers to avoid both problems.
• Marigold (Tagetes spp.). This sun-loving annual also repels other pests and is an excellent border plant for your vegetable garden. Marigolds are easy-to-care-for and you can easily collect seeds for the next year. 



Rosemary in Bloom (wiki)

• Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis).  I love this herb and keep one in a large container and over winter it in my cold climate garden. The oil is pleasing but disgusting to mosquitoes. It’s attractive for container or herb gardens which requires little water.

Alternative Deer Repellents - DIY

I'd previously blogged about the challenges I had been having keeping the Damn Deer out of my garden.  I keep a fence that works very well. However, as I started the woodland restoration that now hugs their trail, my love-hate relationship with this plant predator has continued.

Bad smells keep Deer Away. 

Recently folks have suggested some alternatives to the chemical sprays I have been using. This spring as tulips, hostas, iris, and chokeberry are starting to come out. I'm trying these out - the more potential deterrents the better!  If I can make my precious bits of green plants taste and smell terrible - unless they are starving, the deer should just move on (to my neighbors yard!)  One downside of a treatment that relies on taste (like the pepper spray below) is that the deer must taste the plant to discover they don't really want to eat more.  So there will be some nibbling with this method along. Another reason I like using combos.

Just keep in mind that everything needs reapplication. Make sure to treat the plant completely! Rain and time take away the smell and taste. I do not put these treatments onto food crops by the way. My vegetable garden is safe inside a fence (mostly) - although the bunnies do make a mess. That's another blog. 

A Dirty Dozen - Plants to keep out of your garden!

Keeping invasives out - to make room for these beauties!

I'm making my spring garden to-do list and I notice that many of the tasks involve getting rid of plants rather than planting them! These are my "dirty dozen" of plants I wish had never rooted on my land. Managing these highly aggressive / invasive species is a major chore.  These plants expand via fast-growing roots or rhizomes or expel dozens of seeds annually. So over time you may get much more than you planned!  Many of these are plants I purchased at garden centers or picked up free online through Craigslist or similar sources. Getting plants free should have been my clue that these plants go CRAZY!  Others I inherited with the garden when I first moved in- nearly 12 years ago, this challenge started with Bishops Weed and honey suckle. I pulled them out, cut them down and still they return year after year. I spray them and abuse them. They can be very B-A-D. I'm still at it - and there is not much left. Man some of those roots are tenacious! Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Clearly the former owner of my house LOVED her buckthorn and honeysuckle greatly. Fellow gardeners in my neighborhood love some of these and readily take up the debate as to why I'm pulling them out. My response is always that they are taking space, resources and time from the plants that I really want to flourish in my garden.

So, here's my "Dirty Dozen" of plants I would like to bite the dust and never return. Your experience may vary - but I encourage you to think twice about putting any of these in your garden.

Gardening with Vinegar and other household staples

Keeping an eye out for DIY in the garden (love this pic!)

I cam across a fellow bloggers post this morning where she lists out various things to use vinegar for in the garden. (it's down below)This took me right back to working along side my grandmother in her household garden. She had a few staples - Vinegar, Urine, Baking Soda, alcohol, and coffee grounds. Yes - kitchen staples also carry over into the garden. (I know urine isn't a kitchen staple but you know what I mean!)

With these items - used alone, mixed with water, or other household products, she raised so many wonderful plants. As she put it, she didn't have time or money to go "all the way to the Piggly Wiggly" and buy fancy products for the garden. All that way was about 5 miles - a lady of the great depression knew her home remedies.

Uses of these staples include:
- altering the pH of your soil
- Adding nutrients (like fertilizer does)
- Killing weeds
- Killing pests (coffee grounds and ants don't mix; alcohol on aphids is ugly)

Check out this fellow blogger's site for tips with vinegar.

If you are wondering - when we would visit as kids she would have us pee into a watering can and then take us into the garden to "water" her plants. Very fun and funny at the same time.

Keep singing.

Teresa Marie

Hosta Pests - Fungus?

I am having three problems with hosta this year. I think it is fungus and / or viral.  Let me share pictures and what I have attempted to date for pest management. Any advice welcome, as you can see from prior post, since I have tons of hosta and would like to get ahead of these problems.  BTW I love this guide to hosta pests from IA extension.

PROBLEM 1: Brown Leaf spot, early spring issue



Brown spots on Hosta -Spring 2011