Results from Organic Pesticide Recipes

    OK, it's been three weeks since I last posted a blog and I apologize for the delay. I have so much to say but I haven't had much time to say it so I'm just going to try and do some catching up in the next few weeks. So, first things first. The last post was about organic pesticide recipes so I'm going to share the results of our little experiment.
    The first mixture I made was very simple. I cut the lower leaves from a tomato plant, placed them in a glass jar filled with water and left it in a window to steep for a few days. Then I sprayed it on my little garden, which I use as a test garden. I didn't notice any difference in the amount of insects on the plants and quite honestly, I didn't expect to. That recipe seemed a little too easy and too tame to kill or repel anything and as far as I can tell, it did neither. So I moved on to the next one.
    This is the one I was excited about. The recipe called for crushed garlic and cayenne pepper, which made me want to sauté some shrimp instead of destroy some insects, but I digress. The garlic and pepper steeped in the window for the same amount of time as the tomato leaves. I strained the spicy water into a spray bottle, added about a teaspoon of olive oil and two drops of dish soap and filled the bottle with more water. Then I shook it all up and headed out to my little garden. This one worked! I didn't see any bugs and the mixture was diluted well enough to prevent the cayenne pepper from burning the plants. (Yes, cayenne pepper can burn your plants so use it sparingly.) This recipe did the job well enough to earn a promotion to Thad’s BIG GARDEN!
     The final recipe called for rosemary and olive oil. I put the rosemary in a glass jar, covered it with olive oil and once again, left it in the window with the other mixtures. Afterward's I poured the rosemary infused olive oil into the spray bottle and added water and two drops of dish detergent. Then I shook it up and sprayed it. It smelled great but I don't know if it killed or repelled anything because quite honestly, I had grown bored with the entire experiment.
     In conclusion, although I want to get rid of bugs without coating my plants with poison, I think we'll stick to store bought organic pesticides and repellents. I'd much rather use my garlic, cayenne pepper, olive oil and rosemary for organic recipes that we can eat.