Visiting a friend down the street the other day opened my eyes to something I had never thought about before; flies. More specifically was why did they have such a terrible problem with flies and I had seen so few at my house? When I told my hosts that I didn’t have the same issue they were floored! It seems that they have been battling these little pests since late spring and it was only getting worse. It was a mystery and I wanted to see if I could discover what was going on.
My first guess was it was a chemical that our bug company uses so I gave them a call. They were pretty sure that the organic chemical they used would not keep flies away like that so I was searching again. Then I found it; basil! Believe it or not, houseflies hate the smell of basil and avoid it like the plague. We grow tomatoes and I plant basil as a companion plant to keep as many bugs off of the tomatoes as possible because there are a lot of bugs that don’t like the smell either. So now you know, plant basil around your house or keep a potted plant or two in your home to keep the flies away. I just took one over to my neighbor!
