Insect repellent ..

@Irmemac and others, here is one of them...

1 dl organic vegetable oil (eg sesame oil, almond oil or jojoba oil)
10 drops of essential oil from lemon grass
10 drops of essential oil from rosemary
10 drops of essential oil from geranium
5 drops of 2 additional essential oils: lavender, eucalyptus citronella, cedar tree, patchouli, rosewood, tea tree, lemon, basil, cloves, pineapple and cat mint
Mix everything in a bottle and shake. Do not mix more than 40-50 drops of essential oil into 1 dl vegetable oil.

 

Thanks, Sandy. I don't have a single essential oil, but if I can get a hold of them I will definitely give it a try. Interesting that strongly scented plants feature. Many thanks for the ingredient list and instructions.

 

I like the smell of lemons...

 

Lemon curd....lemon tarts..... lemon cheesecake..... lemon chicken......lemon meringue pie..... Yes, definitely could smell worse!

 

I am one of those people who insects in search of a feast always seem to home in on! Agree about the horribleness of horse flies. Could ants be a possibility @Irmemac? There is one corner of my garden where ants like to nest and no matter how carefully I work there I always seem to get a few bites.

If you like the scent of lemons you can (or at least could when I last tried) buy reasonably-sized bottles of citronella oil in Boots and other chemists, to use as insect repellent. It is pretty effective though if I was going somewhere really mosquito-y I would up the ante and go for a proper repellent - Jungle Formula is good. You don't need much citronella oil - apply to pulse points, including wrists and ankles - and it smells to my mind like lemon-scented geraniums.

I don't find Anthisan as effective a remedy as it used to be, I wonder if it's one of those things where the formula has been changed? Try a dab of TCP or Savlon or maybe cidar vinegar - I recently read that that is meant to be especially good for wasp and bee stings, though I haven't needed to try it out yet.

 

@Irmemac you little temptress you!

 

Great advice, Clare. I will try the citronella oil - would like to smell like a lemon-scented geranium . Definitely not ants. This is the first year in ages that we don't have any ants around!

 

The ancient wisdom here is 'Vinegar (any vinegar) for wasp stings and bicarbonate of soda for bee stings'. Apparently, one lot of toxin is alkaline and the other acid, so it's all about neutralising the effect. I can vouch for the vinegar, especially if it's applied quickly and left on until pain stops. I wonder how long it will be before someone mentions harvest mites?

 

Absoulement vrai

I've used vinegar on wasp stings and it nutralises it pretty well. Got stung in the middle of the English Channel where there was no vinegar and it hurt for weeks.

The way I remember which is which is Bee -rhymes with LSD = Acid

I had harvest mites last year They bit me all round my wellies

 

Harvest mites? My biggest nightmare!

 

Gruesome!