Gardener’s Wisdom

photo credit: wit

This time of year while our plants are thriving so are some common garden pests. Aphids can decimate your plants in a matter of days and sometimes you don’t notice it until it is too late. One way to get rid of aphids naturally is to introduce ladybugs to the mix. Most garden centers sell little containers of live ladybugs that you release into your garden to do their work. This works great as long as the ladybugs don’t fly away which always seems to happen to me after a day or so.

Another way to get rid of aphids is to mix up some common kitchen ingredients and spray to infested plants. One mixture that has worked for me in the past is to grate or chop up an onion and a couple of cloves of garlic. Put it in the blender with two cups of water. Liquify in the blender then mix in one tablespoon of baby shampoo and put in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning strain the solids out of the mixture using a fine sieve or cheesecloth and put the liquid in a spray bottle. Let the mixture come to room temperature before using it. Spray the mixture liberally on the aphid infested plant. This should take care of the little bugs.

Spray the plants every couple of days with the mixture. Your aphids problem should be greatly reduced if not eliminated in a few days. Store any unused mixture in the refrigerator and throw any unused spray away after a week.

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