Aphids – How To Get Rid of Them Naturally

For a while, it did seem like this would be the first year without any pesky aphids plaguing my poor fruit trees and berry bushes. Alas, that ship has sailed. I noticed some of the leaves on my fruit trees had begun folding inwards and so I gently opened one of them. There they were. Aphids in abundance. Along with an abundance of ants trailing up and down the stems.

You have to be proactive and quick

I mixed up some filtered water with apple cider vinegar and cayenne pepper. Then I sprayed every affected leaf as well as the stems of the fruit trees. I will have to reapply it fairly regularly until they take the hint and leave. As advised by other gardeners, I sprayed the leaves, squeezed them and then sprayed them again.

Two of my apple trees are full of baby apples and I cannot afford to lose them. I am still waiting for the other two to form fruits, and I am fairly sure the delay is due to the aphids. I hope all four will produce a good amount of apples this year.

There are cherries on my cherry tree already, so I need to do what I can to make sure the aphids and ants don’t ruin them. There are no plums yet, but it looks like the plum tree will produce flowers very soon. Same with the elder trees. I think the Damson tree is still too young though.

Thankfully the berry bushes appear to be safe for now. There are a lot of berries forming already, and the leaves are looking very healthy. I’ll keep an eye on them all the same since aphids work quickly and the bushes are fairly close together.

The first harvests

I harvested the first green onions of the year about a month ago, the first asparagus last week and this week it is time to harvest the first rhubarb.

The garden is doing well, but the weather has been intense. Mild nights and over 30 degrees C during the day. The sun has been so strong and the plants aren’t entirely loving it. Some of the baby plants struggle, so I need to tend to them a few times a day until they’re large enough to manage on their own. The potatoes, root vegetables and alliums, however, are living their best life and loving the heat.

Most of the plants are outside full-time now. There are only a handful of seedlings left to transfer. They’re not yet grown enough to handle being transferred to the larger containers, but they are strong enough to handle being outside all day.

I gently emptied and cleaned the hydroponic containers and refilled them. The plants seem to be doing well. One bean plant was struggling a little, but it is doing better now.

Garden to do list

Once the last seedlings have been transferred, the to do list is very simple. Water as needed. Fertilise weekly. Check the garden for pests daily. And of course, harvest whenever possible. That’s the best part, after all.

How is your garden doing?