Are Aphids attacking your garden? Let me tell you how to get rid of them.
2026 seems to have been a decent year so far for aphid munching ladybirds or ladybugs as they are known with earlier than usual sightings. 2025 saw a ladybird boom. So here was me thinking that they would be happily feeding away and there would be fewer aphids this year.
I almost fainted when I saw my lupin plants take on that withered look, I have never in all my years seen so many greenfly aphids, piled on top of each other fighting for sap, the whole plant other than the top leaves were bombarded.
I have a two-part system at exterminating the little blighters, the first is a blast with the hose pipe, that said I have quite a few lupin plants and it took 30 minutes to remove the majority of the plant murderers from one plant leaving a green carpet of crawling beasties, waiting to crawl back up the plant and resume their lunch.
I interplant in my garden and so soil health is incredibly important, I have brassicas growing next to the lupin and as they are also on the aphid’s menu, I will need to keep a close eye on them. There is lots of talk on the internet about using washing up liquid in water and using as a spray to kill aphids, my grandad used this method when I was a child ahem, almost 60 years ago….only washing up liquid for many is a chemical filled concoction, surfactants can affect the PH of soil, and really I don’t want to be consuming any vegetable that has been sitting in any type of synthetic chemical.
And so, I use a liquid castile soap that has organic elements and is unscented and is considered safe for using on plants and does not affect the soil when diluted. My dilution suggestion is 1 measured tablespoon of liquid castile soap to 950ml of water. Using a trigger spray bottle specially for my bug busting spray, I zap the unwanted with a blast.
I do feel that the unusually high interest in my lupins this year that I may need to return several times with the spray but alas my lupins are recovering well. Must go check my miniature fruit trees right this minute.
