The journey to a mosquito free life...or at least back yard.

Two summers ago we discovered that our new home was appropriately remembered as "the mosquito house" by the home inspectors for a reason. Nice shady backyard + relatively stagnant water a block or two away + leggy unkept bush perimeter = a backyard impossible to enjoy without layers of DEET. Seriously. Walking from the car to the back door meant at least 4-5 mosquito bites.

So I decided to take things into my own hands, the natural way. I read blog after blog about natural mosquito remedies, especially plants, but no one posted follow up. So here is my follow up! Some may call it a bit of an obsession, but I wanted those mosquitoes gone. And here's a spoiler...yes, this worked!

We were able to enjoy almost the entire summer in our back yard without wearing bug spray. In the peak of mosquito season we did spray the bushes ONCE and used some natural bug spray right at peak mosquito times, but other than that.. we didn't need to do anything unnatural and most of the time were bug spray free.

Last summer I did all this before the mosquitoes entrenched themselves in our backyard. I think that helped a lot.

Tactic 1. Destroy their favorite habitat. 

I cut back a TON on the shrubbery in our yard. All the shady zones that really didn't give us much in landscaping did give the mosquitoes a great place to escape the summer heat.

To put it in perspective, we probably gained access to about 200 ft2 of our yard while still retaining the privacy of the shurbs between us an the neighbors.

Tactic 2. Plants. 

I surrounded the back yard with a perimeter of defense of plants with mosquito replant properties.

The list of options from my research (I bought what was available/what I had time to get to before I got too busy):
Herbs: Oregano, basil, lavender, thyme, rosemary, catnip
Veggies: Garlic, onions
Flowers/decorative: Marigolds, geranium ivy, citronella grass, citronella scented geraniums, ageratum, bee balm

Here is what I did. Not all of it survived, but I am positive that it made a big difference!

Left: Catnip. Right three: Citronella scented geraniums

 Catnip: Suppose to be 10x more powerful than DEET when leaves are crushed. Very invasive - kept it in a pot to make sure it would not spread too much. Be careful not to over water - catnip likes it dry. It actually survived the winter outside.

Citronella scented geraniums: I could not find actual citronella grass, so I got these. They were our perimiter of one side of the patio. They did really well over the summer, even with partial shade, but I didn't get them inside before freezing so they died over the winter.

Herb garden loop

Mosquito repellant: marigolds, oregano, basil, lavender, thyme. Plus chives and parsley, because we eat them too. This location seems to get good sunlight from about 7am-1pm, then is shady the rest of the day. These did really well and were tasty!

Geranium Ivy hanging baskets

Geranium ivy. Suppose to repel/confuse mosquitoes. We put plastic water catchers for under pots in each one, on top of the moss, to keep water from just dripping through. The hanging baskets were really expensive in stores so I bought them on amazon and then the plants locally. They were in a kind of shady spot, but still did really well through the season. I also forgot to bring them in before freezing, so they died over the winter.

Peppermint and Spearmint

Ageratum

Mint: Also invasive, so we put it in an isolated area. Mosquitoes don't like the smell. Unfortunately, these ones died on me - may have been too shady an area.

Ageratum: Mosquito repellant and needs very little soil.

Rosemary, ageratum, and lemon thyme

Bee Balm

Rosemary, ageratum, and lemon thyme: also repel mosquitoes. Unfortunately my little makeshift planting zone got trampled by the neighbor kids. 

 Bee Balm: A flowering bush that is suppose to help repel.


Tactic 3: Citronella torches.

Whenever we had a big gathering or were out around dusk, we lit citronella tikki torches. Partially to drive away mosquitoes..and come on, they're just fun for summer!

So I can say those all really did help. Yes, I saw a HUGE drop in the general mosquito population from cutting back the bushes and planting good plants.

I don't remember how much we spent on plants last year, but replenishing my supply this year cost under $100. If I'd just brought in the seasonal plants, I could have saved a LOT of that price tag.

Future plans include:

Tactic 4: Bat House

Build a bat house - if we can attract bats, they'll take care of a lot of the neighborhood mosquitoes.

Tactic 5: Home-made mosquito traps 

I saw the soda-bottle mosquito traps, but then didn't actually feel like they were necessary. Maybe this summer I'll put some out just to see how they work.

Good luck with your mosquito eradication quests! Please let me know if you come up with other solutions or have results on these options to share!