Ticks – The Garden Lady

I just heard that a friend was bitten by a tick that she found embedded in her skin and she found the tell tale bull’s eye mark in the area. She fears that she may have Lyme disease and is being treated with antibiotics.Â She was lucky because she found both the tiny tick and the tell tale bull’s eye. Not everyone is so lucky to find this evidence. This is her second encounter with a tick that carries a disease. The last time she had a tick borne disease called Babesiosis.Â Ticks can carry numerous diseases, not just Lyme disease and/or Babesiosis. See here.

Because ticks carry or are what is called a vector for numerous diseases, you can get different tick borne diseases. And you can get these tick borne Â diseases in many parts of the world as well as in all states in the US. See here.

Continue reading “15 Steps to Tick-Proof your Property”

Deer Tick (Ixodes scapularis) female, dorsal view by Michael Bok

TheGardenLady would love to have a party in my back yard. But my back yard is not typical or usual in that it is across from a stream in a wooded area. This area is lovely, but I fear insects, especially Lyme ticks, that might join the party to feast on the guests. I have never taken out any of the trees in this back yard, though previous owners had, so there is a lot of open space where a party would look lovely. Still most of the time, because there is some woodland around the open space, this is a haven for wildlife. Deer come out of the wooded area to cavort. I have seen a fox, turkeys, rodents, snakes and lots of birds in the yard. So if I do have a party back there I want to use the safest pesticides possible. I hate using any toxic substance on this land.

But it would be so pretty back there for a party. What can I do?
Continue reading “Pesticides for Ticks”