Warmer weather and longer days also means more pests crawling into and feating on your hard-earned plants. While the longer daylight hours and warming temperatures of spring bring great growth, they also signal the peak season for garden pests. As spring arrives, many insects become more active emerging from dormancy or hatching and take advantage of the many available food sources. The end of April and May is the prime time for these pests to reproduce, forage, and roam, often leading to increased pest pressure in gardens.

Before you reach for harsh chemicals to these pests from your favourite plants, consider this simple, natural solution and entirely affordable solution - orange peels. Orange peels don't just smell incredible, they are also packed with organic compounds which ants feed on. By tossing orange peels around your garden or near ant trails, you disrupt their food source and make your garden less attractive to them.

Fantastic Pest Control has urged gardeners to use orange peels as a powerful and organic way of getting rid of ants.

Their reads: "Orange peels are very useful when dealing with an ant infestation in lawns. Believe it or not, they are deadly to ants. The organic components they contain are toxic to the favourite meal of ants - fungi.

"Since ants will search for fungi, if they can't find them, they will choose another garden. Collect the peels from the oranges you have eaten and spread them in your yard."

By placing and sprinkling orange peels around the plants you'd like to protect, this will create a barrier thanks to the strong scent and the d-limonene which is found within the peels of citrus fruits will help you bid adieu to those unwanted garden guests.

This will also work for insects like aphids and whiteflies, as the d-limonene will interfere with their nervous system, and be toxic to them.

This is also toxic for mosquitoes and flies who can quickly ruin an otherwise lovely Easter lunch or peaceful evening in the garden and turn into an insect-infested annoyance.

Make sure to replace the orange peels once they have dried out as the scent and oils they emanate are key to deterring pests and can prove to be a powerful and cost-free way of getting rid of them in no time.