Common herbs as insect and other pest repellants

Mint to repel mice Herbal and country lore abound with ways of ridding your house and home of unwelcome pests. Lavender clippings have long been burned on open fires to deter insects and to pleasantly scent rooms. In the Middle Ages sprays of mint were strewn on the household floor to keep both the rooms fresh smelling and to deter the pesky rodent, mice, not so much as the insects, which were said not to like the strong sweet smell. Other effective strewing herbs used were rue, southernwood, and tansy.

Basil, which has been grown in the Mediterranean region since ancient times, is cultivated in windowsill pots more to repel flies than to flavor foods. Two years ago, I was finally successfully able to grow this herb outside my back door. Once my plants were 6 inches tall, nary a fly came near my door, and I enjoyed a summer completely free of household flies! This use of basil is highly recommended! At my previous home, I grew tansy around our pool to keep the flies and mosquitoes away. Although it proved to be very effective, it also proved to be a challenge. This plant grows and spreads like the weed it is! After a few years, it became quite a struggle to curb my tansy plant’s roving ways! My caution is, plant tansy only if you can contain its spread.

Included in betweenclosefriends.com blog, under the Miscellaneous Category, are three all natural herbal remedies to deter moths, ‘All natural sweet smelling Moth repellant, sweet smeeling herbal moth repellent, and Git rid of moths without moth balls.’ There are also numerous recipes for bath preparations, sachets, and skin preparations in this blog that may also be of interest to you.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments are closed.