Shrimp Scampi and Mosquitoes

 

Our current method of mosquito control, whacking them dead, had failed miserably. Had we been armed with octopus arms clutching sixteen swatters we may have had a chance of grilling our meal without becoming a meal. More welts were raised than chicken barbecued.

Standing within a ring of citronella candles and slicked with Cutters abated the misery until stepping outside of the safe circle and sweating off the skin poison invited the next pest battle.

I felt my footing in the food chain slipping.

To keep myself from blanketing the entire backyard with Agent Orange like pesticides, I listed the positive traits of the little bloodsuckers. Food source for birds, amphibians, reptiles and other insects; plant pollinators; and a larval snack for fish kept me from full scale fogging. Instead I reached for my iPad and Googled pro environmental ways to combat the vermin and found a likely product- Mosquito Barrier!

Just one spraying of Mosquito Barrier would keep my lawn and garden mosquito free 24/7 for a month! After reading the supportive analysis by Larry D. Larson, which included several flowcharts, chemical equations with more numbers than letters, and trapezoidal figures illustrating the success rate, I ordered two quarts of the sensational elixir. (It had to be true since I read it on the Internet!)

Miraculously this was accomplished with garlic! Not regular grocery store garlic, but super garlic. Apparently garlic kills the soft-bodied skeeters, but is safe for humans, fish, pets, and other pollinators.

I love garlic! There’s hardly any recipe that can’t be improved by a few cloves of garlic. Now my garlic philosophy extended to my backyard.

I scanned the directions and decided to use a hose-end sprayer to dispense the garlic concoction since it seemed to be the least complicated and fastest. After securing one from my local Home Depot I adjusted the spray nozzle to “shower” and raised the concentration to “8.” I sprayed bushes, grasses, flowers, and pond area. I soaked the perimeter of back deck and front porch. The rich, spicy garlic scent enveloped the area dissipating after a quarter hour. Although the human nose wouldn’t detect the odor, mosquitoes would and stay away or die – sort of like vampires.

I backed onto the deck, turned off the hose, and dashed to the door- followed by a horde of mosquitoes. The horde swarmed rather than swooned and appeared rather hardy for soft-bodied garlic sensitive insects.

Other than leaving me with an appetite for an Italian dinner, Mosquito Barrier failed.

Then I reread the directions.

“Garden hose-end sprayers are not recommended because they are generally very inaccurate and the droplet size is larger than desired. However, if you insist on using a garden hose-end sprayer . . . “

So I’ll visit Home Depot again for a canister sprayer and give Mosquito Barrier another try . . . right after I whip up a batch of Shrimp Scampi.