Question
Hey Charlotte,

I was wondering if you could tell me if using the sugar process outside of the spring/fall seasons would hurt anything.  I did use it in the beginning of Spring and it worked wonderful.  However, I haven't been able to keep up the watering process as well as I would have liked to, and I have some weeds growing back again.  Do I need to wait until fall before I re-sugar?  Also, I was wondering about getting rid of insects in the house and outside.  What is it that you do to keep them away?  I also have June Beetles all over my front porch each night from the light being on and they all die there.  Please help.  THanks.

Answer
Hi sue;
It doesn't matter when or how often you put down the sugar.
As for weeds growing back.
It may be, if you are having very high temps, that the heat and lack of water has also killed off some of the microbes.
Putting down sugar again and watering it is will help that.
Last summer, when it got so terribly hot, my grass started to look a little poorly, even though i was keeping up the watering.
It just got a little lighter color and I figured maybe the heat had killed off some microbes, it has almost killed ME off. LOl
I out sugar and watered, and in a few days, it looked great again.
It has been very hot here, so I am about to put sugar down again.

  Inside the house.
I grow my herbs for cooking, and read that rosemary repels roaches.
I put a piece about 1 inch long on each pantry and cabinet shelf, tossed a few in the corners of closets, put a larger piece under al my appliances in the kitches and laundry room.
In a few days the bugs were all gone.
I put new rosemary about once every month or two.
Basil is also good for repelling insects, as is lavender.
I put sprigs of lavender in the bedrooms, under the beds, in closets and in my dresser drawers.
So, inside use rosemary, labender ( I grow both English and French, and use them both).
Since I have been using these, I have no roaches, spiders, silverfish or earwigs, all of which I battled before.
I use cedar bark mulch strewn loosely over all the yard to keep fleas and ticks away.
Cedar repels a lots of insects, including termites, so every spring when it is time for termites to swarm, i put a trail of vedar bark mulch about 2 inches wide and an inch high, all around the foundation of the house.
In 40 years, we have had no termites. Our neighbors have though.
If you have dogs, Pennyroyal oil is great for repelling fleas and ticks. It smothers them, as well as their larvae, as soon as it hatches.
I buy Pennyroyal oil in the health food stores, and sometimes online.
I buy Epsom Salts in half gallon bags at walmart for about 3 dollars per bag, and i put about a pint or quart of it in my food precessor and whirr it until it is as fine as i can get it. Then I put about 2 inches of it in a glass jar ( I saved a half gallon pickle jar for mixing this), add about 5 or 6 drops of pennyroyal oil, another layer of Salts, more pennyroyal and so on till I have about a pint or a quart of it.
Close the lid tightly and shake until it mixes the pennyroyal oil well.
Leave it overnight, and shake severl times. When you open it the next day, there should be a strong scent of pennyroyal.
It is a member of the mint family so has a minty scent.
That is a great carpet dust.
Vacuum well, and then sprinkle the carpet dust down, and inside crevices of furniture where they might be. Work it into the fibers of your carpet with a broom etc, and it will be a pretty strong mint smell for a few hours, but it will effect the fleas and ticks the dogs may have brought in, like putting you in a room and removing all the oxygen.
Leave for a couple of days, or longer if you can, and when you vacuum again, sprinkle more dust down.
Be sure to store it in a glass container.
If you stote it in a plastic zop lock bag, in 3 or 4 days the oil evaporates, and there is no smell, so it would be inefective.
If you store it in a plastic jar, the plastic will absorb some of the oil, and you will never get that smell out of the plastic.
Thatr is why I whirr the Salts before I add the oil. I put the oil in and whirred it the first time, and it took about 7 or 8 washings before I got the oil out of my food processor.
DO NOT use Pennyroyal in the house with cats.
It is harmless to dogs and people, but extremely toxic to cats.
Lavender also helps keep houseflies out of your house, and it is a very relaxing scent. Smelling it will really calm you and help you get to sleep, easier and sleep better.
A drop or two rubbed between your hands and then rubbed all over a stuffed animal will calm a too tired to go to sleep baby, and help them go to sleep in just a few minutes.
I have a large container of lavender at each entrance. It makes a lovely entrance plant, and helps keep flies from coming in when the doors are open.
Charlotte