15th May I might not be squeamish about insects but I still find them a bit of a nuisance, around here it is the season for nuptial flights, when freshly hatched ants are supposed to fly off and start new colonies. The walls of The Lovely House are made from mud bricks and lots of ants seem to be living in there, at the moment our wooden window sills are covered in earth as millions of ants emerge from underneath the windows inside the house, they fly around hopelessly, then drop down dead as they fail to find a suitable mating spot.
Our response is to spend most of the time outdoors, I’ve failed to stem the mouse population so it's more hygienic and it’s warmer outside anyway*. I cook supper on a fire under the lime tree - this is quite an owly neighbourhood too, which is nice.
All this ‘Live and let Live’ stuff is messing with my head actually - if I was an American I would describe myself as being 'very conflicted’.
It is killing me that my new vegetable patch, nurtured with my own bare hands is simultaneously flourishing and being ravaged by wildlife – this means that my project is a raging success, I made the garden to attract these bastards, why do I feel like machine gunning them all off?
*Our Lovely House is like a damp cave all year round, mud brick and stone buildings are very common in this region, it should be a very 'breatheable’ structure, the original limestone render on the outside of our house has been 'repaired’ with concrete in large patches, - this is what keeps the house so damp.
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I can totally imagine not wanting all your hard work to be eaten up by the insects, even if they are your "talent"! Wherever you live it seems to be incredible for wildlife and weather.
ReplyDeleteyou must have very mixed feelings atm - happy you've provided fresh greens for your insect babies and mums, angry that your supper is being eaten.
ReplyDeletePlease tell me the best product to keep insects from biting me - are they all cancer causing agents? I suffer badly with bites - get allergic reactios but am dazzled by the array of products.
yours anxiously avoiding the buzzing monsters
You know I'm a gardening fan, Lulu - I'm sad to hear your hard work is being ravaged, but all in the name of edutainment, right? Will you please take some photos and share them with us before the plantation is wiped out?
ReplyDeleteI see the ants are attacking everywhere! I have no lime tree to retreat.
ReplyDeleteyour conflict is needing a decent inhabitable abode for humans instead of living in something that is better suited for pests, six or four legged....
ReplyDeletei would of fled ages ago to an apartment with decent heating, workable cooking appliances.
brave you - here's wishes for better living situations soon.
Daisy - The reason we chose this place was for the plethora of insect life - it's near a very large forest and has a lot of neglected land around.
ReplyDeleteFrenchie - Really sorry to hear you suffer so badly with the bites.
I don't want to tell anyone not to use products that work for them - but do worry about the effect the more powerful one's are having on us. We absolutely ban Jungle Juice anywhere on the premises because it melts plastic and ruins our lenses!
We use a lot of Antisan, I use a 'Clicker' and I burn a cedar log on the fire to disuade the insects but we are a spotty, itchy lot - plus one of the Camera Boys has very bad hay fever
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ReplyDeleteMy house on Maui had many geckos inside. They were like voracious insect vacuums. They also provided hours of cat stalking entertainment.
ReplyDeleteKat - I prefer to leave you with the image of a burgeoning Garden of Eden rather than publish the scraggy reality of my 'garden' whenever anyone visits I have a little bit of apologetic patter that goes like this: I intended to create a garden that looks abandoned - It's actually quite hard to achieve this look.
ReplyDeleteAlphawoman - I have no idea what works I know they can be a pain - In Australia they'd pour gasoline down the ant holes and strike a match, in Costa Rica ants are seen as pest control becuse they take out all the scorpions hiding around the house.
Debs - I can't complain - This property was selected for it's abundance of wildlife. I'll be back in my town house in a couple of months and I suspect I'll miss all this.
Oh, I also live with the lime and concrete mix!! Gradually getting rid of the concrete, which has cause a dank atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteGarlic is good for fending off mossies... and a heady mix of geranium, lavender, citronella, and eucalyptus essential oils [my own recipe]. Ants especially seem to dislike bergamot or geranium.
Sx
Thanks for the product tips - I'm rather reliant on les produits Francais though.
ReplyDeleteyou are the most patient person I know...truly!
ReplyDeleteDo you need an organist to perform during the nuptial flights?
ReplyDeletexl - A house on Maui, geckos... I do have an entertaining cat, but she still won't come in the house
ReplyDeleteScarlet - I'm sooo impressed - Earth Goddess or what. How much garlic do you have to eat.
Frenchie - I've just been yawning on about French homeopathic chemists on your comment board.
Roshni - Is it that Californians are very impatient - or do you only know two people?
MJ - an organist to perform during the nuptial flights? - Yes please, can you do Abba songs?
The ants are very bad this year. They are marching in through the hundreds of cracks in my house. Raid seems to amuse them more than kill them.
ReplyDeleteOh, and for French Fancy, I've heard that Avon's Skin So Soft is a great insect repellent.
Hmm, I see your problem. I have a tendency to stroke snails lovingly on their shells and then move them to another part of the garden. But I have a wife who's The World's Worst Buddhist and will simply hurl them at the neighbour's garage wall without a moment's hesitation. Maybe that's you answer - deligate.
ReplyDeletePru - The anti-ant products don't seem to be effective at anything beyond raising blood pressure.
ReplyDeleteGadj - I love he idea that your wife is the World's Worst Buddhist - was there a competition? Does she have a Champion's belt?
Right - that is two mentions of Avon's Skin So Soft. I've just got the blood of a plump middle-aged white woman and it is nectar for the mozzies.
ReplyDeleteIn the UK I used to use Anthisan, I must get our summer visitors to bring me over a case-full.
My concrete problem is that it's the ground floor, which makes for a bleak winter but a gloriously cool summer. The ants don't seem to want to know so they stay outdoors. Generally speaking, the red ants live in the big plastic containers and the black ants live under the path.
ReplyDeleteChère Lulu , Le béton ou l'enduit de ciment ne font pas bon ménage avec la brique et la pierre !! A proscrire de toute urgence !!!!!
ReplyDeleteLa ou les solutions sont : Sur la pierre appliquer un hydrofuge est la solution la moins onéreuse et la plus simple ! Sur la brique un enduit bâtard à base de chaux .
Dear Lulu, The concrete or the filler of cement do not make good household with the brick and the stone!! To ban urgently!!!!!
One or several solutions are: on the stone apply a damp-proofing is the least expensive and the simplest solution! On the brick a hybrid coating on based on lime.
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ReplyDeleteKevin - You have your ants so perfectly under control - is the rest of your life so neat?
ReplyDeleteChèr Crabbers - Merci pour tes conseils, peut etre ce n'est pas le peine commençer tout ce travail par ce que nous sommes que locateurs ici - et nous allons partir le mois de juillet.
Frenchie - If you do go for the Avon solution there are many varieties, if you know any, ask a Scottish lorry driver which works best as they always have a bottle in their cab.
ReplyDeleteTake them all down, Lulu.
ReplyDeleteGun 'em all down, with extreme prejudice.
Mr Marks - why am I not surprised at your solution?
ReplyDelete