Picture the scene. It's a balmy summer's eve and you're ready to make the most of the weather by eating outdoors – tucking into barbecued bangers, scrummy salads and thirst-quenching cocktails – out on the patio.
You're excited about your alfresco feast, but so are the flies that try to land on your food and bother you with their buzzing...
Luckily, there may be a cheap and easy solution lurking in your fruit bowl (or one you can pick up from a local supermarket for just 35p)
The ingredients
Let's hear it for a humble lemon studded with cloves – a natural fly repellent that's taken social media by storm (plus, it's endorsed by Eco Clean Queen Nancy Birtwhistle).
Making this citrusy contraption could't be easier. Simply slice a lemon in half and stud the flesh with whole cloves.
Place your DIY deterrent upright in an eggcup on your tabletop, or near serving platters, to keep flies at bay.
The science
So, the science behind it all: the two ingredients contain strong concentrated oils – cloves contain eugenol; lemons, limonene, citral and pinene – all of which interfere with the way flies find food.
The combined smell can mask or disrupt the odours flies are actually looking for: ripe fruit, fermenting sugars, food waste, meat, moisture and other organic smells.
If you do try to give it a go, remember not to leave your lemon out for too long as it will dry out and the scent will stop working – plus, if it starts to fester, flies will be attracted to it rather than repelled.
Swap the lemon regularly and you've got yourself a 35p fly repellent that allows you to enjoy alfresco season in peace.
Natural pest repellent
