First Strawberry Flowers!

[ChanellG]

I was doing yard work the other day and these flies were all over... Ever since they started routing the garbage on our train here in town, the flies have been out of control... I could try to compost but I think the fear of making these flies a happy environment will make it hard for me.

That is horrible! The flies shouldn't be hanging around though. Have you tried planting stuff that repels flies in your garden? As for composting, the best thing for you is probably an indoor worm bin.

 

[dconklin]

That is horrible! The flies shouldn't be hanging around though. Have you tried planting stuff that repels flies in your garden? As for composting, the best thing for you is probably an indoor worm bin.

I should plant some basil, but at the moment no I don't have anything planted that will repel them (or that I know of.) They are around the whole town. You can see the train from my front window (while sitting on the couch) and if you go out on the upper deck, you can see it from the back of our house too. It crosses under the street very close to us. It doesn't haul garbage every run, but it has brought these buggers in.

They are all the iridescent looking ones with the green. I have tried many things to get rid of these things and they just don't seem to be bothered by much. Never had many flies until the garbage started coming through

What plants would you suggest to repel them?

 

[ChanellG]

What plants would you suggest to repel them?

I would absolutely lose it with that many flies buzzing around all the time! Anything you could use from flypaper to traps would also take out the beneficial bugs.

I haven't actually planted anything to repel them, but I did pin an article on how to do it:
http://pinterest.com/pin/321796335844976871/

You could also try using reflectors like old CDs and plastic bags filled with water. Here are some more ideas to try:
http://pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=repel flies&rs=ac&len=5

 

[dconklin]

I would absolutely lose it with that many flies buzzing around all the time! Anything you could use from flypaper to traps would also take out the beneficial bugs.

I haven't actually planted anything to repel them, but I did pin an article on how to do it:
http://pinterest.com/pin/321796335844976871/

You could also try using reflectors like old CDs and plastic bags filled with water. Here are some more ideas to try:
http://pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=repel flies&rs=ac&len=5

They do tend to drive you crazy! There are good days and bad days, but the fact that anything that would attract them will bring a lot of them instantly is annoying. Today there are not as many, but it is too hot to do yard work so they may be hanging out there in the yard. They hang out on the grass and even on a couple of the trees around here. They don't die easily either, I swatted one 4 times last night and it appeared to be done for but then got up and started walking after I threw him in the garbage.

Will have to try the herbs, I can't do anything with standing water because of the mosquito problem we have in our area. The river attracts the mosquitoes. And people think I am crazy for welcoming the hundreds of spiders we have in our yard, but if it wasn't for them we would be overtaken by bugs!

 

[ChanellG]

I feel your pain! I am considering a pond to attract frogs and more dragon flies to help with the mosquitoes. (I am less than two blocks from the river!) I just don't want the fish to eat the dragon fly larvae. I also need to create a few lizard habitats. I've seen all kinds of bugs I have never seen before as I've expanded my garden, including the little "pretty" flies.

I've been clearing away vines from the fence line and pruning overgrowth and when I'm done I'm going to do some serious re-design. I want to get a mason bee house and try to attract ladybugs, the works! I used to be overrun with spiders in the driveway, not sure what happened, but now they seem to be under control.

 

[Shellyann36]

The plant is looking great. Great deal for fifty cents too! We have a cinderblock retaining wall and I saw a blog online where the guy had put strawberry plants in the holes of his cinderblock pavers around his raised bed garden. I thought that it was an excellent idea. I might have to give this a try next spring.

 

[ChanellG]

The plant was looking great. I think it's suffering from dampening off. I tried moving it to give it more sun and it looked like it was bouncing back and then we had ridiculous rain again. I want to repot it in a lighter soil mix, but I am concerned about disturbing the roots. One runner already died of the the last one isn't looking that healthy.

The smaller plant is the one that now has all the fruit, but it's now looking a bit scraggly as well. I spray it with aspirin and banana water and I want to try feeding it this DIY formula I saw online, but the soil is too wet from all the rain.