How To Keep Wasps Away from Your Garden
Summers are full of outdoors, be those barbeques, short evening tea times, cocktail parties, or lazy afternoons when you just want to soak in some Vitamin C. However, all of these and many other fun summer plans are often destroyed by those annoying wasps buzzing around and having an unsolicited share in everything. It may seem impossible to keep these wasps at bay entirely. However, some tips can still come in handy to keep their interference as minimum as possible. Wasps are important to the ecosystem; they hunt on many harmful insects and pollinate plants. It is therefore not advisable to kill them but to minimize their interference. Here are some useful tips on how you can prevent your garden from becoming a wasp magnet during summers.
Like all others, wasps are also drawn to water. They would either want to sip from it or have a pool party therein. This can be prevented in two ways.
Why do wasps hang around gardens?
Before we reach out for solutions, let's first understand the problem. Why do wasps even hover around gardens? It can be for either of the following reasons.
- They have a nest in your garden.
- They smell food in there.
- They are finding water in your yard.
Water
Like all others, wasps are also drawn to water. They would either want to sip from it or have a pool party therein. This can be prevented in two ways.
- Don't let rainwater gather in your garden. Ensure having an efficient drainage system or employ manual ways to remove any pooled rainwater.
- Optimize your irrigation system by fixing the direction of water being sprinkled. Prevent it from wetting the grass and pavement.
Insects
Another major reason why you'd find wasps hovering around your garden all time, even when no flowers are blooming, is insects. Insects are a vital part of every garden (no matter how effective natural chemical pesticides you use). Wasps feast on many kinds of insects such as ants, caterpillars, plant lice/aphids, beetles, and flies. If you eliminate insects from your garden, you'd automatically get rid of wasps. Although it is not possible to entirely get rid of insects but using pesticides can eliminate most of them.Flowers
Wasps are attracted to flowers because of their color, nectar, and fragrance – nothing of which really sounds alien. They would always hover around a flowering garden; however, the following flowers are not on the top of the wasps' favorite flower list.- Marigolds (don't have a pleasant smell)
- Flowers that are not efficient nectar producers such as Geraniums
- Red flowers (sharp-colored flowers are repelled by insects)
- Double-flowered plants such as roses (Hard for wasps to get in there)
- Flowers that do not coincide with the wasp season
- Evening flowers such as Evening Primrose and the Jasmine