The summer is the time for barbecues, garden parties, lounging in the backyard or bathing in the pool. It is also the season for insects, normally of the flying kind. Flies and mosquitoes can become everything from mildly annoying to downright perilous. So what can you do to protect yourself in the garden during the summer?

The first thing to do is begin clearing up your garden before the summer begins. Mosquitoes breed in still water and it just has to be a half-inch deep. This means that you should keep the gutters free from dropped leaves and other blockages.

Blocked gutters and drains are prime breeding grounds, but so are all things that can hold rainwater. Flower pots, buckets, old tyres and folds in tarpaulins are others.

Drill holes in pots, containers and old tyres; pull tarpaulins tight, upturn boats and canoes and if you have water features, make sure that there are either guppies or goldfish in there as well, because they are famous for eating mosquito larvae.

Making a pre-emptive strike on mosquito breeding grounds will radically lessen the number of mosquitoes in your garden and thereby reduce your liklihood of being given West Nile virus (in the USA). It will also protect you against E.coli.

However, your neighbours may not be as particular as yourself, so mosquitoes will still come into your backyard. To protect yourself from these spray insect repellent containing DEET (25% +) on your clothes and exposed skin to avoid mosquito bites.

In the twilight, hang a bug zapper with a blue light and an electrified coil in the environs of where you are sitting. The best ones also use pheromones to lure mosquitoes, especially octenol.

Some species of mosquitoes hang around animals, so rub some natural mosquito repellent on your dogs or do not allow them to lie at your feet.

Do not use DEET on them because they will lick it off and get sick. Use citronella oil, lemon oil or garlic. There are lots of others as well, but they are not as effectual or as long-lasting as DEET.

If you are cooking, and who would not be, be cautious of meat, particularly chicken and pork. If the meat is frozen, thaw it gradually and keep it in the fridge until minutes before you are going to cook it.

The risk zone is between 40-140F, when bacteria will multiply very quickly and flies will lay eggs in it. If you have to keep the meat out of the fridge, keep it ‘under water’, that is, in a marinade, so that flies can not get at it and it is out of direct sunlight.

Keep food and drinks apart, so that the fridge is not opened so frequently as to permit the temperature to increase above 40F. Use two sets of kitchen utensils, one to handle uncooked meat and fish and one to take cooked meat and fish off the flames otherwise you will contaminate the cooked food.

Use a meat thermometer to check that the food is cooked: 160F for meat and 165F for chicken. Throw away cooked food not eaten after two hours or after one hour if the background temperature is over 90F. If you would like to use marinade up on cooked food, boil it first.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on several topics, but is currently involved with the anopheles mosquito. If you would like to know more just go to our website at Mosquito Bite Swellings.