Protecting water butts from mosquitos

Plans for languid dangling in my potting shed this summer has been curtailed.

By tiger mosquitos.

This is a thrilling new addition to the wildlife on the farm. They are huge lumbering mozzies, lurching about in daylight no less. And laying their larvae in any water source they can find.

And lurid tales of someone catching the infectious nasty Chikungunya fever from a mozzie bite in the valley town of Romans sur Isère has led to much anxiety.

(https://www.ledauphine.com/sante/2025/07/08/cas-de-chikungunya-une-operation-de-demoustication-aura-lieu-dans-la-nuit-du-mercredi-9-au-jeudi-10-juillet)

And apart from mere panic, this has resulted in the good people of Romans to stay indoors while a mass gassing of the town takes place by men in protective clothing and spray packs of (possibly) DDT.

I do love the term ‘démoustication’. Do we have something similar in English? De-mosquito-ing.

So I have done my bit by covering up the water barrels up at the potting shed with my favourite garden sieves. These tamis. Especially the old ones. And as I don’t do any actual soil sieving anymore. Or panning for gold. These are now repurposed.

I did have to add an extra layer of mesh for this one as the holes were too large.

Most helpful Creature.

But this one was just perfect.

I bought it from the most fab brocante shop in the Alps last week (more soon) and it’s actually a 19th century one – really fine design and sturdy as can be.

Because these lids need to do a lot of work. They have to be easy to lift on and off. But be sturdy enough they don’t fly off. And actually not impede rain falling into the butts below.

Just typing the word rain made me wince. Rain? Heatwave and drought 2025. We haven’t had any rain for five weeks now.

The garden is frying to a crisp. As is this gardener.

But at least my water butts are now downfall ready. Bring it on.