Dusk is the time of day when you will often see people out walking for fitness or else relaxing in their garden with a glass of wine after their day's work. I suppose I would be the same, as when I have time on a warm dry evening, I often grab an hour or so in the garden, catching up on a bit of weeding, dead heading, watering etc. But I am seldom alone!

You see, I often have my small friends the midges (Culicoides) to keep me company. The biting of these miniscule pests is, at best, a distraction and, at worst, bad enough to make you want to tear your hair out whilst running screaming through the bushes flapping your arms wildly. My occasional midge attacks are not even that bad compared to what many of you who live beside wooded areas have to put up with each dawn and dusk.

I hate to see nice evenings wasted, so I did some research on how to prevent midge attacks in the garden, which I will share with you now.

Colour

Midges are more attracted to you if you wear dark colours, especially black. This is possibly because, wearing the colour black, you resemble the insect's usual landing pad, a tree trunk. If you wear light colours, it will reduce the amount of midges swarming around you.

Cover up

Cover your arms, legs and all available flesh when midges are active. This will prevent the initial bites, which lead to a full on blood banquet. Anytime a female midge is allowed to drink your blood, she releases a chemical called a pheromone, which highlights you as dinner on legs to other the midges, who swiftly arrive in their hundreds.

Smoke them

Smoking cigarettes is not to be encouraged for the good of your health, but it is one of the oldest ways of driving away midges. I believe that the smoke interferes with the midge's ability to pinpoint man and beast through the carbon dioxide they expel whilst breathing. During my evening stints in the bog, I was always jealous of the unbitten smokers, but not jealous enough to take up the habit, thankfully.

Repellent plants

There are quite a few easy-to-grow plants that midges avoid like the plague, so much so that many of the commercially available anti midge sprays and creams have harnessed extracts from these plants. Most herbs, for instance, exude aromatic oils that midges detest. You can try growing any of the following yourself: lemon balm, chamomile, lavender, peppermint, tansey, basil and oregano. Pick a few leaves from these plants, roll them between your palms and rub them onto your exposed flesh, exercising caution if you have sensitive skin and avoiding contact with your eyes.

Don't forget to rub the leaves into your hair as well, so that your new lingering odour hits the midges from all sides. The scent may not be very effective in attracting the opposite sex down the local nite club, but when the midges attack, that's the last thought on your mind.

Until next week, happy gardening and remember that a weed is just a plant in the wrong place.

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