Mosquitoes in Your Garden? Try Planting These!Written by Scottie Johnson
If you are a serious gardener, you spend lots of time outdoors. And, for sure, you would rather be tending your plants than swatting mosquitoes. While there are many things you can do to keep mosquitoes away, there are some plants that will beautify your yard and help repel mosquitoes. As one more way to keep mosquitoes away from you and your yard, try planting these attractive plants. HORSEMINT Horsemint has a scent similar to citronella. Horsemint grows wild in most of Eastern United States, from Mexico, Texas up to Minnesota to Vermont. It is partial to sandy soils and will grow in USDA Zones 5-10. Native Americans used it as a treatment for colds and flu. It has natural fungicidal and bacterial retardant properties because it's essential oils are high in thymol. ROSEMARY This wonderful herb we use for seasoning is also a great, natural mosquito repellant. It has been used for centuries to keep pesky mosquitoes away. Rosemary is a native of Mediterranean, so it likes hot, dry weather and well-drained soil. It is hardy in USDA zones 8-10, and must be grown as a pot plant in colder climates. If you happen to live in a part of country where rosemary does not grow, you can get a good quality rosemary essential oil; mix 4 drops with ¼ cup olive oil. Store in a cool, dry place. When it comes to fresh plant oils as natural mosquito repellants, there is every reason to have plant in your yard, if they will grow in your area. It is an inexpensive and attractive way to boost appearance of landscape and have natural mosquito repellants on hand as well. MARIGOLDS Organic gardeners have used marigolds as companion plants to keep aphids away. Mosquitoes don't like its scent any better (and some humans feel same way). Marigolds are sun-loving annuals that come in a variety of shapes and sizes for almost any landscape. They are quite easy to grow from seed. AGERATUM This charming little bedding plant contains coumarin, and mosquitoes detest smell. It is used in perfume industry and is even in some commercial mosquito repellants. Don't rub ageratum on your skin, though. It has some other less desirable elements that you don't want to keep on your skin in quantity. Ageratums are annuals, and come in a muted blue and white that compliments most other plantings.
| | Global Dumbing?Written by Gary Whittaker
I am beginning to wonder if scientists have been getting it all round. All this time, people have been worried about Ozone, a giant asteroid, or some breakout of a bio-hazardous agent by a terrorist organization being doom of mankind. We have spent all this time looking outward instead of inward towards ourselves. The latest studies have identified to startling facts. 1 - that whole in Ozone layer is getter smaller, and 2 – that brightness levels on earth our getting dimmer. Does this all mean that Global Warming was all just a sham? That those corporations who continue to abuse our earth with reckless abandon have been right all along? That tree-hugging hippies have had their brains melted from too much LSD? Scientists seem to be getting dumber in direct proportion to grants given by governments, which are lobbied by corporate interests, increases. They have looked at new Global Dimming phenomenon and said, “It can’t be getting warming with less sunlight!” And no doubt that as this new story makes it rounds about Ozone getting smaller, they will point to great job done by their benefactors and reducing Green House emissions and say that Ozone must be replenishing itself. Statements like those should be judged as criminal, just as tobacco companies should be held accountable for deaths of all their consumers. The population must be made aware of truth behind their corporate agenda. We, working class, are ones that can control our future, and dictate to those Ozone depleting companies our new terms. We demand clean air. We demand that pollutants stop being poured into our waters. We demand our forests not be cut down faster than we can replant. We demand alternate, safer energy sources to heat our homes, and power our vehicles. We demand all this because our Earth is dying before our own eyes. The whole in Ozone layer has gotten smaller, but at cost of thinner protection worldwide. We are not just talking about a gap over Antarctica. We are talking about more harmful radiation being let in on a yearly, monthly, daily basis. We used to be able to send out our children to play outside all days. No one needed any sunscreen with special UV protection. Now, one has to only go outside for 20 minutes before feeling sting of sun, while sunscreen has become big business. No one will react until research tells us 15 to 30 years from now that cancer has reach epidemic proportions. The warning signs are there already, we are just choosing not to listen.
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