Keep Bugs Out Of Your Garden With One Genius Tool From Your Kitchen Sink

Pests can be a real pain in the butt. Discovering you have an infestation in your garden is enough to make anyone spiral. Fortunately, there are some hacks for getting rid of pests in your vegetable garden (and other places bugs suck the life out of your plants). You can even kill many insects with a basic bar of soap. How does this simple, inexpensive, and non-toxic trick work exactly? You use leftover pieces of bar soap to make an insecticidal solution that you spray on a plant's foliage. This kills small, soft-bodied bugs, such as aphids, mealybugs, and spider mites, via suffocation. They are killed on contact, so the pests don't have to ingest the solution for it to be deadly.

To do this, slice up or grate a bar of soap, add it to boiling water, and wait for it to dissolve. It helps the soap break down if you agitate with frequent stirring. Once that's done, fill a spray bottle for easy application and you're all set to suffocate some pesky critters. Be aware that dish soap, formulated to remove grease and oil from cookware, is not the same as bar soap. It may strip foliage of it's waxy surface layer, resulting in major problems.

There are some factors to keep in mind when it comes to using insecticidal soaps. If the soapy solution dries out or washes away from rain, it's no longer effective. If you're preparing your garden before going on vacation, do multiple applications. Another limitation of this bug-killing method is heat: Phytotoxicity — when plants have a negative reaction to chemical substances — can occur if you douse your plants when temps are upwards of 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Insecticidal soaps don't work on eggs, either. Some insects are also able to hide underneath foliage, so it can be difficult to get them. For example, ants in your garden can be a huge red flag because they shepherd aphids under the leaves of plants, protecting them from predators and soapy water. That said, you can try using coffee grounds to deter ants, as well as other pantry staples such as cinnamon and vinegar.