Bugs Be Gone!

It is bug season again!
Many of you have kids and many of you are sensitive to chemicals.
Here are some safe ways to deter the bugs without poisons:
1. Mint-  most bugs do not like spearmint or peppermint. Plant mint around the perimeter of your home. It smells great and keeps bugs out. Besides, what kind of mojito can you make with no fresh mint?
2. Chalk- ants and other pesky bugs will go far out of the way to avoid chalk. It disrupts their pheromone trails and tastes bad. Many bugs, like spiders, taste with their feet. Chew on some chalk, and you will know just how spiders feel when they walk on it. Gross, huh? Mash up some chalk, put it in a spray bottle,  add water, and spray baseboards. You can also smash up the teeny chunks of sidewalk chalk and sprinkle around under/around your house. This works well for trailer homes.
3. Lemon scented anything- remember that spiders taste with their feet? They HATE lemons. As long as you don't put lemon stuff that has sugars or sweeteners, the spiders will stay away.  Plant lemongrass,  lemon balm, or lemon trees. If you can't do that, just get some unsweetened ReaLemon, put it in a spray bottle,  and spray where there are places that a spider could enter your home. Also, mopping with lemon floor cleaner works.
4. Borax- sprinkle, spray, or whatever. It is a great, poison-free way to prevent any bug infestation. If your pets bring fleas, try sprinkling the carpet with Borax, vacuum it up, then dispose of the vacuumed dirt right away. Put it in tied plastic bags in a trash can outside.
There you go! 
Have a safe, happy, bug-free spring!