Simplifying Critter Control in Outdoor Eating

Posted on July 7, 2010 by LJ Earnest
Categories: Simplification

Wednesdays are simplicity days at SimpleProductivity blog.

Photo by ThenAndAgain

Summer is here in the northern hemisphere, and it is time to eat outside! The latest trend in outdoor living spaces brings al fresco dining back into the forefront of style. But nothing can ruin outdoor dining faster than pests.

My grandmother used to say that a picnic isn’t complete without ants. In our backyard it’s not just the ants but also mosquitoes, biting flies and wasps. I’ll be honest. While the ants are pesky, it’s the flying insects that really make it miserable. We take some simple steps to control them.

Citronella

Surrounding our deck are a series of citronella torches. We also burn a large citronella candle near our eating area. This deters most mosquitoes. When there is no natural breeze, we will bring out fans to keep the air moving. This keeps the remaining bugs from landing.

Screens

Flies love to crawl all over food. Mesh food covers keeps the bugs out while allowing us to see what food is where.

Wasp Traps

The past two summers the wasps (yellow jackets) have built a nest somewhere under our deck. We discovered this after I got stung the second time last year. We have sprayed the nest, but they must have another one somewhere. We use both a wasp trap to attract wasps away from our eating area. We also leave a half-empty can of sugared soda near there as well to get attract and drown yellow jackets.

Eating outside can be a very fun activity if you take care of the pests. Do you have any tried-and-true methods? Share below

Photo by ThenAndAgain