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Hi, guys!
Happy holiday weekend — I hope you’re relaxing and enjoying your garden!
Since many of us will be spending time outdoors today and tomorrow, I figure it’s a good time to talk about mosquitoes and how to get rid of them without using chemicals.
Chemical insecticides that target the biting pests also threaten essential pollinators and other beneficial insects — and they only control a small portion of the adult mosquito population, anyway. Plus, sprays and foggers need to be repeated multiple times per season. They also endanger birds, which could feed contaminated (but not yet dead) insects to their young. And that’s saying nothing of the exposure to people and pets.
Unless you live near a swamp and are dealing with a severe infestation, those nasty bloodsuckers can be very well controlled with a two-step routine on your property: Dump standing water from trash can lids, children’s play sets and anywhere else it accumulates after rainfall, and — in areas where water is intended to stand, like in birdbaths, ponds and rain barrels — use Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti).
You can buy a bottle of granules or use Mosquito Dunks, donut-shaped briquettes made of the bacterium, which is safe to use around people, pets, fish, frogs and other insects, including bees.
Float one (or a piece of one, depending on the size of the area being treated) in the water. Mosquitoes will lay their eggs on the surface as they always do, but their eggs will never hatch. As a bonus, Bti also targets black flies and fungus gnats.
📬 Ask Jessica
DEAR JESSICA: Do you know what this purple-flowering plant is? Is it a weed? — George L. Leifer
DEAR GEORGE: That’s Aquilegia, also known as columbine or granny’s bonnet. Its foliage indicates it probably belongs to the Canadensis species, which is native to southern Canada and the US, but I can’t be entirely certain because there are dozens of species (some native to Europe and Asia).
The spring and early summer bloomers are perennial in zones 3-8. Use them to brighten partly shady areas in Southern gardens and plant them in full sun in the North.
💡 If you do one thing this week…
Check vining, rambling and climbing plants every couple of days and secure them to their supports, trellises or arbors as they grow. Their bad habits are hard to break, and if allowed to grow unchecked, their stems will break easily.
👏 Sunday shoutout
Reader Bill Bleyer has a lovely rain barrel setup, which he says was “full after a Saturday rain.”
📰This week in my Associated Press gardening column
I write a weekly gardening column for the AP, so you might have seen my byline in your local paper (or news website) — wherever in the world you happen to be. In case you miss it, though, I’ll post the most recent here every week.
This week, I wrote everything you need to know about growing herbs. They’re so easy — you don’t even need a garden!
Before that, I covered the whys and how of hardening off seedlings, an essential step in your spring gardening routine.
Before that, I went against the grain and wrote about why No Mow May is a terrible idea. Somebody had to do it.
A week prior: I wrote about soil pH, why it’s essential for healthy plants, how to test it and what to do if it’s out of whack.
You can read all my AP gardening columns here.
📚📺🎵 Random things I enjoyed this week
I finally got around to installing the simple raised-bed drip irrigation system I purchased last year. For someone who has hand-watered for her entire life, it’s a game-changer.
I started the new season of “Queer Eye” and nearly 5 hours later realized I’d blown through all but two episodes. It’s one of the best examples of human kindness I’ve ever seen on television. And it’s sort of like free therapy, too. Now if only I could get JVN to do something about my hair…
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📧 How’m I doing?
I welcome your comments and suggestions, so please send them along — as well as any topics you’d like to see covered and questions you’d like answered in the Ask Jessica section.
Btw I love your column
I started them in small containers outdoors around Mothers Day actually a couple of days before that. I live in East Patchogue