There are fake wasp nests on the market. Gardener's Supply sells one. The idea behind it is that when you hang up a fake nest, wasps, being not too bright, think that the territory's taken and they stay away.

I have a lot of wasps and bees in my yard, and so far (knock on wood) I haven't been stung. Since I'm allergic to everything and even mosquito bites swell up into huge red welts, it would probably be very bad news.

I try and live with the critters in my yard...If I see a big old bee or wasp on my veggie flowers I just say thank you and stand back a bit while he is there...I have several huge spiders ...don't know what kind big and brown and yellow that have huge webs in my garden...one in my beans and one in my tomatoes and one on the fence...I just avoid them..they can have the beans or whatever in that little spot...I feel safe knowing exactly where they are..I can't bring myself to kill them, but I want to know where they are if they are going to be in my garden...If I knock down the web, every time I go out there, I would be wondering where she was and if she was waiting on me...I always wear long pants, tucked into my socks and I always spray myself with bug spray...most of the time I wear long sleeves and a hat, just to protect myself from the sun..............

Lurqui:
If you have lots of tempting plants for the bees and wasps and hornets, chances are they are not going to bother with you much - they have other things they are more interested in. It is not likely that you will be stung again. Be sure to keep those pants legs tucked in. The one and only time I was ever stung by something in my garden, in 15 years of gardening with them buzzing all around me, was when a wasp blundered up my pant leg.
-O

Can you harvest at sunrise or sunset? I do out the last hour of the day, and most of the pollenaitors have gone home by then.

I feel for you. Yellow jackets can be very nasty.
Once the summer gets ripping, I try to slather myself in Avon Skin So Soft before I go outside. I am one of those people that all the bloodsuckers love to feast upon, and I have had a few of the mean stingers hit me before too. The SSS repels insects (and leaves you soft and silky-lol) Make sure to use the original variety-they make a couple other versions now that smell very nice but lack the famous odd quality of bug repelling of the green kind.
You WILL be a believer if you try it. I use it all the time, for years, and while it makes me oily, I never get bit when I have it on and it does not seem to affect the veggies at all. I think Avon even now makes it in an spray bottle just for bugs, but I stick with the traditional bath oil. I have to make sure to get my hairline and also the waistband/sockband areas too or the ticks will burrow into me.

I have been stung many times, but only once in the past few years when I took a roll of wire off a hook under a shed roof and yellow jackets had built a nest on the back side of it. The last few times I was stung was when I did not notice till too late and mashed one or got entirely too close. There are quite a few wasps in and around my garden, but I do not crowd them and they have left me alone. I really think that most of the time they will not bother you if they do not feel threatened. Time was when I was happy to kill any that I could but have grown to realize that most of them are helpful and beneficial unless they build a nest in a place that you can not safely avoid.

Ruthie, I know the kind of spiders that you are talking about and I let them be too. I have heard people call them cotton spiders because cotton fields were a popular place for them and also some called them grass spiders. I really do not know the correct name but they look a lot like this.

Good luck lurquizo, just try to give them a little room so that they do not feel crowded and unless you are very close to their nest, I think that they will not be too likely to bother you.

As mentioned, I do not think that I have had a sensitivity or allergy to them, but after many stings over the many years, it did seem that the stings that I received in the past ten years have hurt a good bit worse and the effects lasted longer.
Bill P.

Gee, thanks guys! I appreciate all your replies. At this point, I realize that this has become a phobia for me & that as organica pointed out, chances are that I probably won't be stung again. But I can't remember a year when it was as bad as it is right now here. Of course, we live out in the country & this comes along with all the beautiful views & clean air. It's just something we have to put up with, or go back to the concrete jungle.

Still, with global warming & the increase of CO2 in our atmosphere, this may just be another symptom of our sick planet. I know the poison ivy around here has gone NUTS this year due to this & probably the fireblight on my 2 pear trees, too. But I'm still looking for things that I can do to tip the balance in my favor. This is what I've found so far: probably nothing can be "done" to change anything until the first freeze, so going out at sunset, as fishymamas (love that name!) suggested is what I have been doing. Also, if you put out traps in the spring (which you can make yourself with plastic soda bottles), you may get the queen & avoid a major nest being built nearby & giving you problems later in the summer. I might try that one.

Lilacs in may (& others): if you have a known sensitivity to bug bites, you may want to consult your doctor for a presciption for an Epi-Pen, an self-injectable dose of epinephrine to keep in your refrigerator just in case you have a major allegeric meltdown from a sting & can't get help in time. It just might save your life.

Hottomato: I actually do have some Avon Skin So Soft -- the old kind -- but I didn't think to use it because I had read that it really didn't have any ingredients to repel pests. Also, you're not supposed to wear any sweet-smelling perfume because that's a turn-on to these creatures as well. But reading the labels on the DEET & Picardin products say that they repel mostly mosquitos, ticks, fleas, deer flies -- nothing about wasps, hornets, yellow jackets or bees. So there you are. I still think going out at sunset is my best bet.

Finally, Ruthieg & gonefishin, I've seen those big banana-colored spiders in our family gardens for most of my life & I just tend to steer clear of them & peacefully co-exist (can't we all just get along??). Of course, spiders, wasps, hornets, etc. -- all these critters are doing us a favor by eating mosquitos & other tiny pests, so we owe them our gratitude rather than our fear. I know that rationally, but it's still going to be a while before I venture outdoors unafraid.

Anyway, thanks for ALL of your comments & ideas & moral support. I appreciate it!

Laurene

Laurene,
You might want to have on hand amonia, it neutralizes (SP) the Formac acid which is the stuff they sting you with. I also keep a Sawyers Extractor on hand and althought I rarely get bit, if you use the extractor you can pull the venim out. I always carried one when I worked in the Amazon river basin, up the Rio Negro
1eyedJack and the Dawg

Laurene, I have a south-facing board fence that I have to get close to a couple times a week. There are always, ALWAYS, yellow jackets and other wasps on that fence!

I have been stung there twice over the years. Both times was because I ended up standing right in front of a nest, previously unseen.

The other day, I just stood and watched the wasps to try to understand what they are doing there. They are chewing off the wood and carrying it away. I guess I'd never wondered where the "paper" for paper nests comes from.

If that is all they are up to, the wasps leave me alone. And, we "get along" just fine. I know that they are predators and help me out with the garden pests, after all. But, I look very, very carefully for the nests. And, I've got NO choice but to move along that fence and they've got NO choice but to defend their nests.

There are plenty of yellow jackets around so I bring out the wasp-killer, give them a quick shot and walk directly and quickly away . . . and away, and away. Later, I return for reconnesaince.

My wife claims that 2 stings would kill me . . . don't know, never happened before. What I do know is that Benadryl orally, and anti-histamine creams, topically, are of a BIG help.

Steve

Oh, and near sundown, the mosquitoes come out . . . I can share and expect to share alike but NOT my blood!

even Stephen

Yeah, I get tired of getting stuck for the drinks by the Mosquitoes too. My loyal dog is reluctant to go out late with me to feed the mosquitoes, they bother her too and she probably has more sense than I do.

That is exactly what the red wasps and yellow jackets are doing on a board fence, especially an older and weathered one. They find the surface comes in handy in making their nests, but once again if you are not right near their nest and do not crowd them, they pretty much leave you alone, or do me anyway.
Bill P.

OK... new developments. Now I can't go outside my back door. I seem to be the main attraction for these bald faced hornets & I get dive bombed each & every time I go outside. No kidding. No one else seems to get this treatment. Not my kids, the neighbors or the pest control guy. In fact, I'm sure the latter thinks I'm nuts by now, but I'm definitely NOT making this up or imagining things. I thought it might have just been a coincidence at the beginning, but now I am positive that I must give off a pheromone to these things. I don't use any perfumes or anything else besides soap & shampoo, like most folks. I just can't think of what else it could be.

What I want to ask is: Has anyone out there ever experienced anything like this?? I'm really curious.

The other thing I have been noticing on the news is that there are instances this summer of people in other places across the country having a hard time with wasps & hornets. It seems to be a particularly bad summer for these things. Anyone else heard of this, & if so, please pass on any URLs you might have to read about this. I suspect this is yet more evidence of some of the changes taking place due to "climate change". Perhaps the increase in CO2 is favorable for these insect populations... Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts on these things, please let me know. Thanks.

L:
That's dreadful. Did the pest control guy take any kind of action? Do you know where the nests are located?

Is there anything particularly attractive to the hornets (in addition to yourself) that is near the back door, that you could clear away?

My next door neighbor reported finding a hornet's nest in the bat-house he'd put up. In my own yard there's been nothing unusual.
-O

Organica:

Yes, the pest control guy cleared a number of paper wasp nests (both active & empty ones) off of our house, garage & garden shed, but these wasps & I have peacefully coexisted for a long time together. They're not as aggressive as the bald faced hornets. The problem is that he could not find the hornet's nest, which is weird because they always seem to be in the general vicinity the minute I step outside. Still, no one seems to be able to see it.

I have a few pots of herbs & a potted fig tree on my back porch, but not much more. Nothing to draw them there. I do see them in my chicken coop, however, about 25 feet away, buzzing around the ground. Perhaps they're attracted to the "layena" the hens eat.

I was just wondering if anyone else has experienced anything remotely like this, or is it just me? Sure, all the weird things have happened to me in my lifetime, so I'm really not surprised. But I am starting to sense that the weather is about to turn colder soon as September is approaching & by mid-month we'll be having some chilly temperatures that will put the kibosh on the little monsters! Bwahahahaha!!! Can't wait! I'm already planning to put out traps next spring to avoid this next summer.

Thanks for your concern... I got friends picking my vegetables for me & feeding my hens for now. In return, I'm baking goodies to repay their kindness & help. I really don't know what I would have done without them!