Is it here? Spring?

Hooray!  The red line on the thermometer is slowly creeping upwards!  Bye bye snow- I hope I’m not speaking  too soon, but come on!  The birds are coming back and the buds are finally starting to show on the trees.  I’m getting the itch to start tending to the flower beds (yes tending!). I think they are ready to shed the 2 inches of leaves that I’m going to call Mother Nature’s winter coat.  That promises to be an afternoon of raking and trips to the recycling center.  Thank God for gloves and wheelbarrows!  I sound like a farmer!  We have bushes in the front that I’m ready to dig out – well I don’t know if I’m ready – but at some point before the end of June I’d like them gone.

Last weekend was very nice – I believe we hit the upper 50s!   As I perused the yard for things to put on our “honey do” list I came across some flower pots I left out over the winter have standing water in them.   As I tipped out the water I thought I would add a post with some helpful tips to avoid having your yard turn into an vacation area for mosquitoes.  The main goal is to avoid having areas in your back yard that are ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes.  We like to call them the “5 T’s”  Tip, Toss, Turn over, Tarps,and Treat accordingly.  Here are a few things you might find helpful:

1) Empty any standing water from containers – be they flower pots, birdbaths, barrels or pails.

2) If you have a bird bath, dog dish or any other intentional standing water – make sure you clean/change it at least once a week.

3) Rain gutters should also be as debris free as possible.

4) Do you have tarps covering anything outside?  Water pools all over the place in them.  Pull them off and shake them out!

5) Treat accordingly by calling Mosquito Squad to keep you mosquito and tick free all summer!