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Catnip (not catmint, though) is an extremely effective insect repellent. Nepetalactone is an insect irritant more effective than DEET.
You just end up with stray cats rolling around in your garden patch..... So win win I guess
Mint too but it'll take over
Just grow it in a container
Yeah that's what I do I have a little jungle of containers on our apartment patio
Never even heard of catmint tbh
Serracinia pitcher plants. They are native to N America and they are very hardy. They'll eat the bugs. All you have to do is keep them wet and sitting in distilled or rain water, and plenty of sun. They like the cold in the winter and need it for their winter dormancy period, so you can leave them outside in the PNW (since you mentioned). The plants are gluttons and will eat as much as will fall in their mouths (jst like me, fr fr).
They are such easy plants to grow outside, as long as you keep them wet and use distilled or rain water. They will die with tap water because of minerals in the water.
Keeping carniverous plants is so rewarding, at least for me, especially when I hear insects in the traps, feeding my babies 
Thank you!
Marigolds do something, forget what tho
They are good against soil based pests.
Marigolds should be very good at repelling unwanted pests, often used in allotment gardening between rows.
But don't put them near 
or the suffers.
Iirc they also expressly attract beneficial insects too
Honestly same
Neem oil mixed with water and spritzed on any plant that can handle it will help deter flies. You could even get a fake plant and occasionally spray the leaves to leave a light residue on it. Some people don't like the smell but I use it on house plants and got used to it. Citronella oil spray would probably have a similar effect.
Thank you i might have some citronella
Sundew is natures flypaper. There are variants native to Northern Europe, California and Australia, so you should be able to find one that works for you
There is at least one sundew native to the PNW I recently learned, so that would work perfectly for OPs purposes, given the right soil and water
Thanks!
They're also beautiful and cool, though they only work in summer/with lots of sun
Lemongrass that is used in a lot of Thai recipes is supposed to be bad for insects (most familiar with the effect on mosquitos and fleas). Maybe that would work if you can grow it.
Thanks!
I live in the "pacific north west" basically on the border between canada and the us on the west coast for reference
this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2026
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gardening
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