New kid on the playground

It seems kind of paradoxical to me that it’s the world around us — the physical elements over which we have little or no control — that seem to change the most, while humankind remains much the same. Yes, cultural norms change, with beliefs and practices varying from age to age. But at the core, for thousands of years we’ve been the same people with the same emotions, judging by the records left behind by ancient civilizations. We love. We fight. We worship. We create.

In talking about changes in the world around us, I’m thinking in particular about the garden and being in the world of nature. Here, there’s always the element of the unknown. Which pests will arrive this year? Early on in my vegetable garden, it was the groundhogs. Then the deer arrived. Insect pests continue to come and go. Weed seeds have come unbidden, floating in on the wind (Canada thistle), surging across the ground (ground ivy), riding in on batches of mulch (too many to mention), or dropped by birds (wineberry, multiflora rose, poison ivy). One year disease arrived (potato blight).

Over the past two years or so, another change has manifested, though it affects me rather than the garden: the arrival of the Aedes genus of mosquitoes. I’m not particularly concerned about the Zika virus they can carry, but I do hate getting bitten — that intense itching. Mosquitoes have been around for forever, though, so why am I complaining now?

I used to be able to count on mosquitoes being active just in the early morning and the evening. But these new mosquitoes are what is known as “daytime active” and the northern range of these tropical insects has been moving northward. Now, it’s as if bullies that used to hang out on the playground only in the morning or evening are out all day. And they’re hungry! It’s gotten to the point where if I step outside for more than a few seconds, I’ll get bitten. Just earlier this week I spent barely two minutes outside, stopping to check on the latest swallowtail butterfly larvae. In that speck of time I collected six mosquito bites. This just doesn’t seem fair!

Of course I could simply spray on some Deet-containing insect repellant, but I never know when I am going to want to (literally) stop and smell the roses. I used to love wandering the yard, maybe with some iced tea in hand, to check on and admire everything. I also liked going out to just putter in the garden for a few minutes. Over time, I’ve come to prefer this over the several-hour sessions.

It seems like an incredible nuisance and waste of time to spray on repellant, go outside for five or ten minutes and then have to shower off the Deet. I also don’t love the other option of putting on long sleeves and long pants on

hot summer days, especially if my three minutes outside is simply a detour on my way to my car for a meeting or errand. Yet I have to do something to avoid feeling like I don’t even want to be outside, which I confess has started to feel like a reality.

I do have a solution for dedicated time outside. I fire up my little Thermacell® lantern and set it in the area where I want to garden about ten minutes ahead of time. The unit works by heating up a repellant-containing strip with a butane-powered tiny flame. Each unit covers an area about fifteen feet square. I’ve found them to work really well — never a bite. For moving around the yard or for hiking/hunting, there is a clip-on unit; a little chunky, but at this point I will probably try it. For those brief, random stops however, I’m still looking for a solution.

Pam Baxter is an avid organic vegetable gardener who lives in Kimberton. Direct e-mail to pamelacbaxter@gmail.com, or send mail to P.O. Box 80, Kimberton, PA 19442. Join the conversation at “Chester County Roots,” a Facebook page for gardeners in the Delaware Valley. Go to Facebook, search for Chester County Roots, and “like” the page. To receive notice of updates, click or hover on “Liked” to set your preferences.