Insecticide soap for your garden

If you are a gardener, you probably will recognize this picture:

Aphids. I went to the garden to cut some fresh dill yesterday and found them everywhere. It's like they arrived overnight and got comfortable in our yard. 

Luckily I know what to do and it took me just half an hour to get rid of them. I made insecticide soap from vegetable oil, laundry detergent and water, sprayed the plants and I found aphids dead in the late afternoon.

I am going to continue growing the dill I sprayed and use it for the seeds for the next season. I still have some flower beds with herbs which were not infected by the insects. These plants we will be able to use for food.

I'd like to share the recipe of insecticide soap with you. It works great on plants and you can make it any time from your household items. It is also inexpensive compare to the store-bought insecticides and can be organic, depending on what ingredients you are using.

You will need:

1 cup vegetable oil

1 table spoon full of liquid laundry detergent (not concentrated, not citrus based)

Water as needed

1 pint jar, mixing bowl, spray bottle

Mix the first 2 ingredients and pour into in a jar. Now, mix 1 to 2 tea spoons of this mix with 1 cup of tap water. Pour it into a spray bottle.

Use your insecticide in the early morning on a dry non-windy day. Shake the content of your bottle and spray the plants preferably under the leaves of the infected plants. I always get so enthusiastic and I spray the entire plant.  

I have used this recipe for over decade now on my roses and tomato plants (now herbs, too!) and it always works for me.