Happy almost end of the work week! I don’t know about you, but Thursday is my regular party night, the unofficial beginning of the weekend, and close enough to the Friday to begin dreaming about Saturday and Sunday’s extra curricular activities. If, like me, your thoughts regularly drift to an alfresco affair at about this time, you’re in luck because Jen of Domestik Goddess is this week’s guest blogger and she steps up to the party-throwing plate with fast and fab ideas on how to keep bugs out of your picnic bash.
Here’s luminous Jen:
Here’s her brilliant guest blog:
Tips for a Pretty Pest-Free Picnic
Summer is all about gathering friends on the patio, lingering late into the evening, and making memories over a fabulous meal. So where in that idyllic picture is there room for uninvited pests?
Ants, flies, mosquitoes, stinging insects…a crowd of food-seeking bugs can spoil your outdoor party faster than that nosey neighbor with a jones for barbecue. But DEET and dining just don’t mix, so what to do?
Once upon a time, the scent of lavender was believed to ward off evil spirits and maybe even the bubonic plague. Well, I can’t swear to that — but I do know from experience that pesky houseflies don’t care much for lavender. If you can lay hands on fresh lavender flowers, make them the highlight of a picnic centerpiece that your guests will enjoy — but those flies that buzz your table, not so much!
No fresh lavender? Try a drop or two of the essential oil. It’s got a calming effect, too, in case your guests look like getting into a fistfight over the last scoop of roasted-pepper dip.
Pest-Fighting Florals
If you’re doing fresh flowers for the table, tuck a few sprigs of strong-scented mint into a casual arrangement of wildflowers. Or crush some mint leaves — fresh or dried — into a bowl of potpourri, or sprinkle them on top of the ground near your patio. Mint will help to shoo away both flies and ants.
No mint leaves on hand? Try an essential oil, or even the peppermint flavoring used by cooks — add a few drops to a spray bottle of water and just mist the tablecloth. (Outdoors, a flannel-backed vinyl tablecloth stays fresh looking longer than paper or cloth, by the way, and stands up better to an unexpected rain shower or wind.)
Keep ants out of your dinner for sure by setting each table leg into a container of water. A terracotta plant saucer is pretty for this, but I’ve also used old family-sized juice cans with one end cut off. Paint them up in funky bright colors, or try a quick and easy faux granite effect (a light-grey base coat, spritzed with two shades of darker grey by running your thumb across the bristles of a paint-laden old toothbrush). Ants can’t swim, so a half-inch of water is plenty deep to keep them from climbing up a table leg.
If flies are the pest that bug you most, the warm sharp fragrance of citrus and cloves is a traditional repellent — and it makes for a lovely little craft project, too. Pick up some whole cloves at the grocery store, along with a handful of oranges or lemons. Then, just poke the cloves into the citrus fruit, right through the rind, in whatever patterns the creative spirit might move you to make.
Toss those clove-studded pomanders into a decorative bowl on the table, use them as elements in a centerpiece, or mount them on barbecue skewers and poke them into plant pots around the dining area. Mmmm, lemony-fresh and spicy!
Other Aromatic Bug-Free Ambassadors
In fact, word has it that many insect pests are put off by a lemony fragrance. Just yesterday I picked up a bottle of Fly Away Spray, designed to repel insects with a lovely lavender-and-lemongrass scent, and my mother swears that she’d be eaten alive if she didn’t take in lots of bitter homemade lemonade!
Citronella plants — you might hear them called “mosquito plants” — are really just a type of lemon-scented geranium. Insects find the strong-scented plants quite odious, but then, so do many people! (I can’t say I care for them much myself.) Still, setting out a few potted citronella plants will help to create a lush green oasis in your patio area, and it should keep the mosquitoes from totally crashing your party.
Citronella candles are another option, of course, but again the scent may be too strong for sensitive noses or those with allergies. Think more of making a ring of protection around the seating area, if you use them, rather than getting up close with the burning candles.
At night I do love the glow of garden torches set out in the shadows just beyond the seating area. I know, I know, tiki has been done to death, but it’s just so romantic… Instead of evenly spaced torches like a row of toy soldiers, why not try groups of three, with each torch at a different height? So much more interesting! And if you’re going to do the garden torch thing, you might as well go for citronella oil to keep a few mosquitoes away at the same time, right?
Gorgeous Wasp Traps
The pain-inflicting insect pest that I most despise, however, is a wasp or hornet. Some of those striped little menaces can be downright mean!
You can make a perfectly effective funnel-type wasp trap from an old plastic drinking bottle — I’ve done it, and it works just fine — but the visual effect is not very pretty. For an outdoor entertaining area, especially if you do the fancy, it’s worth a small splurge to get a designer wasp trap — like the bright new glass collection by Garth Williams.
You’ll want to keep at least one wasp trap out at all times, if a gang of yellowjackets takes over your yard — so the traps might as well be decorative!
But what about the nuisance neighbor, the one who pops over at the first clink of ice cubes? Sorry, doll — you’re on your own with that pest!
Technorati Tags: outdoor entertaining, pests, picnic, bug control, citronella, yellowjackets, party tips, picnic tips
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