As I mentioned before, we share our garden space with numerous visitors.  For some people (and usually me) this can be the icky part of gardening.

Is this a mole beneath my daughter’s earlobe?

Nope.  It’s a tick!

Yes, ticks are back.  We have pulled several off already this year.  Time to consult my tick suggestions from last year.  While ticks are creepy, I at least take comfort in the fact that most of them do not carry disease.  We are now very careful to examine all scalps and earlobes in our household after coming in from outside.  For some reason, we are always finding tick bites in the areas closest to the head.

My husband’s skill as a tick surgeon is improving.

I added a pair of small tweezers to our car emergency kit to address ticks. While I was at it, I also added a pair of nail scissors.

Covering up from head to toe while gardening at this time of year is great prevention for tick bites.  My go-to gardening outfit is the supremely unfashionable combination of jeans tucked into my socks, a turtleneck, tennis shoes and gardening gloves.  Yes, it is hot at first. After hours of gardening, however, the only places I was bitten (by mosquitoes and spiders) were the small space between the uncovered part of my neck and face and the spots between my gardening gloves and long sleeves.

Are ticks or other insects bothering you this year? What do you do to prevent tick bites? Please share in the comments.