Long sleeves, long pants, spray all over with DEET, change water in multiple bird baths every other day. I didn't used to use the spray, but those bites on the butt are SO maddening! I even spray my hat. I also rub lemon juice on my face and neck. That doesn't last long, but it helps where I am not spraying myself. Good luck. No fun dealing with those.

Oh, and I also do not spray my plants-want to keep other insects and birds around to eat those nasty mosquitoes. Bats can help, too!

"Flower beds" as known up north are not as much of a thing around where I am, for the reasons you mentioned, MKX. Landscaping more often consists of a few trees and various shrubs intermittently in the grass. The occasional veggie plot. It takes extreme dedication to keep a dozen species of relentless creeping grasses on the mowed side of a border, so that is why shrubs almost always have grass around them. It looked really strange to me at first, having moved to AL from OH, and after 14 yrs of gardening in AL, I'm surprised at how much people do manage to accomplish in regard to gardening & landscaping.

There are weeds that sprout throughout every part of the year, and maybe 2-3 months without mosquitoes present at any time of day or night. Some plants might be sleeping, but the weeds never do. Luckily some of them disappear while it's still too chilly out there to care, so they don't need any action, like chickweed, betony, and creeping charlie.

I get a lot of mosquito bites just doing things like spending 10 mins watering porch pots before work, or getting out of my car and walking to the door when I get home. I can't wear anything but a tank & shorts when it's 95°, like it is every day for months, so when I know I'm going to be out there for more than 5 mins, I try to do the bug spray. But they do bite through clothes, or ears, forehead, anything not sprayed well. Since I wear glasses, the worst part for me is when sweat drips all over the lenses. It's hard, I would prefer to be outside every minute when I'm not asleep or cooking, but it's miserable. It's more than a little frustrating that when the garden is in full swing, the last thing I want to do is go out there and look at it. Much of what I'm growing is nectar plants for the butterflies/bees/hummingbirds since they're the ones who care during summer. And a lot of beautiful foliage that I can quickly appreciate while coming and going. No plants that require deadheading to maintain my quick glance appreciation.

Definitely, any summer gardening in my area will be sweaty and buggy, period. Ya gotta want it. Unless you're one of those rich folks with a screened back yard or other significantly sized screened enclosure. Then it will just be sweaty. Unless you also have a budget to pay someone else to pull weeds and dig holes. Even overnight or at dawn, it's around 77° with matching humidity. If the air is not moving, I start sweating right away just from walking around with a little watering can.

A southern gardener could retire for 3 months of summer, weeds notwithstanding, and have a great 9 months of gardening. There are more than 3 months of summer, but removing mid-June through mid-September would eliminate the bulk and worst of it.

But on the flip-side, from fall through spring, it does cool off at night, the 90+ temps recede, and there are beautiful Narcissus, Lycoris, Camellias, Jessamine, Violets, Oxalis, Billbergia, Dianthus, ornamental cabbage/kale, pansies, Allium, Wisteria, Clover, spiderwort, and so many other wonderful plants blooming.

Anyone outside of tropical areas where the weather is about the same every day has their seasonal burdens to bear, depending on which seasons they prefer and whether or not it's possible to garden during their comfort seasons.

mkx3, I concur with every single thing you wrote!! Holy cow, i’ve never experienced such a mosquito-ey summer in my life. I am right now scratching at multiple bites on my legs for daring to go to the mailbox with shorts on, it’s nuts.

I have had more trouble with tiny biting things this year than in all other years past. I dress appropriately, I spray as much bug spray on me as I feel is safe, and they bite through the clothing and I sweat off the spray in the first five minutes.

I've been looking at mosquito suits- head to toe net. I know they can still bite through it but may indeed get me one for next year.

As for now- I don't go out as early as I'd like. It may be marginally 'cooler' at dawn, but the bugs are way less prevalent if I wait until the sun is well up and things start to dry out.

If I'm watering I'm not above soaking my own head if I get too overheated.

And I have a huge fan in my 'sit and rest a moment' area along with plenty of water. The fan keeps the bugs off me as I rest. I wish I could mount it on my head, lol.

When I come in I pop a benadryl before I hit the shower and scrub well.

If there's any silver lining it is that most of my bites stop itching within a couple of hours, unlike the ticks from hell I've had in the past where I'm still scratching holes in myself after even a month.

I can't just stop because it's uncomfortable- if I did the weeds would run rampant and be way more difficult than they need to be. And I have to water things- things get toasty out there this time of year and I have a lot of things that just went in this year that need daily attention. I do have a bit of a tendency to stall out in August, but promised myself I'd keep up this year and I've done a pretty good job of it.

And those "Bug Bite Things"? The suction syringe looking things that allegedly suck out the venom/allergen? They kinda/sorta work marginally well if you get to the bite asap, so I have to carry one with me. They don't work on bumpy or boney areas like knuckles and fingers and elbows and ankles which is where most of my bites seem to happen. AND 90% of the time they leave a hickey.

I hate bitey bugs. UGH.

But- if it was easy everyone would do it, lol.

Yes, that's why I'm pulling weeds in July & August. That's when a lot of them sprout and if left alone (like I did last year, OOPS!), this year I have *thousands* of chamber bitters plants and a bunch of berry vine sprouts. If I didn't pull weeds during the heat, there would be no good plants left.

i though they just moved the meat smoker to the bed they wanted to work in... the day prior ... lol ...

sorry... couldn't resist ...

ken

I don't think mosquitos in the south are as bad as what I saw in Wyoming and Montana. My family went on a camping trip from TX to CO, Yellowstone, and across to the Olympic Peninsula in WA. We couldn't camp in Yellowstone due to mosquitos..had to rent a little cabin. I think the mosquitos were bigger, more of them, and more aggressive up there. Here in NC they are annoying but don't stop me from spending a lot of time outside. I sprayed some Off on myself the other day.

We lived in TX 12 years and I did not do much gardening there. Moved to NC partly for the weather. Most of the time the weather here is not discouraging for gardening. July and August are bad but the mornings are ok. I think we just got done with our last heat wave.

From what I hear Alaska has some really big mosquitos.

and New Hampshire has black flies. However, they are in woods where there's running fresh water (that's what the larvae prefer). A bite swells as big as a golf ball and itches 3 weeks!! I kid you not.

still my worst experience was the Louisiana Gulf in summer. Vicious, vicious swarming skeeters.

We didn’t have many mosquitos because we were in an extreme dought. Now we have had some downpours, and now they are out in fource. uhg ugh!,

debra

The humidity has been intense for so many more weeks this year. I'm old enough to remember when we could get by without air conditioning in Michigan. We'd have a bad week or two.

I don't do much in the yard when the dew point is 72+

I have been able to escape the mosquitos by not working in the early morning or evening. I also use Ben's 100 DEET when I need to work in my heavily planted backyard or if it's not sunny. I don't spray the yard because I want the bees, monarchs, etc. to thrive.

I garden in North Carolina. The mosquitoes are fierce. I often have several (dozen) biting me at any given moment when I garden from April through October. I don’t get bothered by them, probably because I take a long-acting antihistamine year round. I do wear long pants and boots to keep the ticks away.

Well, it's Winter now, or soon will be, so no Mosquitoes and limited outdoors garden work.

We have several species of mosquitoes here in this part of rural Kansas, and they don't wait for the sun to go down to attack. I have a couple of bug zappers that I use to make a dent in the mosquito population. When the weather is warmer, we have hummingbird feeders and several local hummingbirds, and hummingbirds do eat some insects, including mosquitoes. But the bug zappers are our main skeeter control, and that is only local.

I am very glad that we don't have blackflies here in Kansas. I lived in Maine for a few years, and the blackflies were even worse than the mosquitoes. I wore headnets and applied a combination mosquito-blackfly repellant. Blackflies have an aquatic larval stage, like mosquitoes do, and we applied a lot of Mosquito Dunks to our local stream and pond to help control the local population of both. We had nothing to fight the ticks with.

Here in rural Kansas, we keep a flock of guineas with our chickens to keep our grounds free of ticks. Go out 500 yards and the ticks will eat you alive. I feel sorry for the deer hunters. And the deer.

ZM

Mosquitos are the Alaska state bird.

Yikes! I do miss my perennials during winter, but not the mosquitoes!

I think I have now left "zone envy" behind me forever. Thanks, everybody. ;)

This summer was bad for mosquitos because of all the early season rain we got. I basically went out in mornings or midday to not be a snack. Only short bursts, because the hot season is when you hide in your AC caves in the South. I tend to plant things that I can enjoy more in the spring or fall (or winter) because summer is not an enjoyable time here.

There are still mosquitoes out and about here. But then again, most of the perennials are still blooming, so I'm happy with that.