Question
I have thoroughly enjoyed reading up on information about your organic gardening. I will be immediately implementing the sugar program.

My question pertains to bugs (spiders, etc) coming into the house. I dont want to go on an organic program and have the Pest control company coming out here spraying junk around the perimeter of my house. Is there an organic material we can place around the exterior of the home to help with bugs entering?

I read about the ant remedy, but i was hoping for more of a all-in-one treatment to replace my pest control company.

Thanks in avance

Jonathan
Fort worth, TX

Answer
Hi Jonathon;
Well, there is no magic bullet, but here are the things I do.
I scatter cedar bark mulch all over the yard, I guess one bag per 1000 to 15oo sq.ft, and I put a trail of it around the perimeter of my house, and my husband's shop, about 3 or 4 inches wide and an inch or two high, to keep out termites.
the cedar bark mulch repels a lot of insects, including fleas ticks and termites.
Rosemary is a good repellent.
I grow my own herbs, and rosemary is an evergreen plant in our area. I makes a mounded plant about 3 ft high, and about that round. It will send up shoots away from the mother plant and if you want to keep the shape, prune that off, and/or dig out that part of it, and try to get it to grow elswhere in the yard.
For inside the house, I put a piece of fresh rosemary about an inch long on each pantry, cabinetshels, and toss a few into the corners of the closets.
I put a longer piece about 2 or 3 inches long under each appliance in the kitchen and laundry room, and also under vanities in the bathroom. I put it anywhere the roaches cam come in and/or hide. I replace it about once a month.
It takes a little while after you put it in the house, for it to chase them all as some are in the walls. You could also throw some around in the attic.
I get a little bottle of cedar oil at the health food store. A bottle about half an ounce costs about 6 to 8 dollars, but that lasts me a year.
I paiont a stripe of it along the closet poles and along the baseboards. Turns your closet into a cedar closet, without the strong cedar smell.
There is only one company that has lawn maintenance and'or pest control that uses an organic program.
I see their ads on TV, he introduces his kids and says, these are the only pests allowed around our house.
He claims that he uses organics, but I have no idea whether or not this is true.
Since using the rosemary in the house, I have no ants, spoiders etc.
Sweet basil also helps, and it does make your house smell nice.
Now is the time to scatter the cedar bark mulch. The termites should be swarming now, or very soon.
There just are not any all in one treatment that works.
Go to Calloways. I just bought more rosemary at the one here in Irving. They have a good supply of herbs in now.
Charlotte