Flies In Your Kitchen? Grow This Fresh Herb To Keep Them At Bay

Flies coming into your kitchen from outside can be a big nuisance. If you don't do anything about it, they can start breeding, quickly becoming a bigger problem. It's understandable if you don't want to spray your kitchen full of chemicals to kill the flies and would prefer to try other options first. The best way to avoid the use of insecticides is to prevent pests from getting in there in the first place, so we recommend growing a basil plant in your kitchen.

The oil in the basil has a strong odor that can repel many kitchen pests. So if you're looking at starting a kitchen herb garden, this is a great first plant. One of our favorite herb hacks to keep the bugs away is to sprinkle cuttings of basil into mason jars of water. This is a good way to use up the leaves, buds, and flowers you don't eat after pinching them off to promote greater plant growth.

Growing this fly deterrent can be tricky at first, but once you get it down, you should be driving those pests away with minimal effort. Basil requires a lot of sun, so if you don't have a grow lamp for it, you will want to put it in a south-facing window. Make sure you plant it in well-draining soil and keep it moist.

You don't have to go out and buy a full plant, either, as basil is a food you can regrow from kitchen scraps. If you take a cutting and leave a stem in some water in the sunlight, that stem will start to grow roots. Make sure you cut off any lower leaves and keep a node submerged in the water.

The grocery store pots of live basil are also great to replant. Those full, lush pots are often actually many seedlings planted together. To make them last, you can take them out, gently separate the roots (some tearing will inevitably happen), and replant them in their own pots.