Pests and weeds can wreak havoc on your garden. You probably do not want to spray chemicals because these will get all over your fresh vegetables and fruits. The good news is that you can control weeds and pests naturally with no negative repercussions.
##Weeds##
One of the best weed killers is something most do not believe until they try it. Go into your kitchen, boil some water, put it in a spray bottle and spray your plants. You can even just take the pot out and gently pour it over your plants. Hot water works wonders on clearing your garden of unwanted weeds.
Hydrogen peroxide is also an effective weed killer. Take one quart of water and then one ounce of three percent hydrogen peroxide. Mix these together and they spray them onto trees and plants. This mixture is a natural insecticide, fungicide and weed killer.
Vinegar has also shown effective in killing off weeds. The jury is out on whether or not household vinegar is just as effective as higher concentration vinegar, however, so go ahead and try the vinegar with a higher concentration. You can also head to your local hardware store or garden center and ask for their advice on which vinegar they use. If you want to improve the weed killing potential, add some lemon juice and mix these together. Lemon will enhance the power of the vinegar.
##Controlling Pests##
Water with some dish soap in it is a very common remedy for fleas in the home and it will work just as well for pests outside too. Take some old bowls and mix some water and dish soap together. Place these just outside the perimeter of your garden in your backyard. You should use four and put one in each corner. If you have a really large garden, then place a few more. The pests will be attracted to this and will avoid your plants. On the same coin, beer works in a very similar fashion. Pests will want the beer more than what is in your garden and will go to the bowls of beer over your carrots or pumpkins. Any beer can be used for this and it should be switched out at least a few times a week so that it does not get too flat as flat beer seems to not work as well.
Salt and water has been shown incredibly effective against spider mites and cabbage worms. You will take one gallon of water and two tablespoons of salt and mix these together in a spray bottle. Then, just simply spray this on your plants. It is recommended that you use Epsom salt over table salt or sea salt. This works just as well as the potentially hazardous pesticides.
Another insect spray involves one gallon of water, eight ounces of three percent hydrogen peroxide and eight ounces of black strap molasses. You can substitute the black strap molasses for white sugar if you have this lying around. Mix these all together and put them into a spray bottle. Then, just simply spray this onto your plants.
When you are using mixtures, it is a good idea to first water your garden, give it about 30 minutes for the water on the actual plants to dry a bit and then spray whichever mixture you choose directly onto the plants.