With the continual rain we’ve been having lately (so over it!), there’s been an explosion in our little vegetable patch. The vegetables have shot up and we’ve been very happily harvesting the leaves for salads and cooking. But this rapid growth of our plants has brought a new challenge—aphids. No doubt attracted by all the tender new leaves, aphids have had a population explosion within our little garden. They’re even on the habanero chillies! These nasty little sap-suckers destroy new growth so we’ve declared biological warfare…

We’re trying to be organic and given that these plants are for us to eat—not the aphids, as they seem to think—we’ve had to read up on how to get rid of the aphids without using harsh chemicals.

Method 1: Companion planting

Coriander is supposed to repel aphids. Aside from wanting to use it in our cooking, its aphid-repellent properties were part of the reason we chose to grow it alongside the others. Our four planter boxes had quite deliberately been stocked with a mix of the beetroot, silverbeet, lettuce and coriander, rather than having each pot with only one type of plant in it.

Three of the four pots included coriander and the aphid assault started in the pot without coriander. So it’s fair to say that there may be some merit to coriander repelling aphids, however they have spread to the other pots and now are even on the new coriander leaves…annoying little critters.

Method 2: Lady beetles

I don’t know about your area but it’s not often we see lady beetles in gardens around here these days. And lady beetles are the natural predators of aphids. But with no flowers on the balcony, and no more space and pots to plant with flowers that would attract them, it seemed this option was not available to us.

Method 3: Soap spray

The organic gardening community swears by using soap spray to control aphids. So we gave it a go…

Mix together 1 droplet of environmentally-friendly dishwashing liquid, 1 tsp vegetable oil and 1 cup water and spray on the plants affected by aphids.

It does work but the process needs to be repeated every few days on an ongoing basis to ensure that you wipe out all stages of the aphid population. Unfortunately, part way through this process I noticed too late some lady beetle larvae on the chilli bushes, but the soap spray also gets rid of them.

Not sure how the lady beetle larvae turned up in our little garden and definitely wanting to encourage them, soap spray was no longer an option. We decided to leave spraying anything for a week and keep an eye on the plants for the appearance of more lady beetle larvae.

Method 4: Garlic spray

More reading uncovered the suggestion of using a garlic-infused water spray to control aphids. All the while wondering how this might affect lady beetles, we decided to try it.

Finely grate 1 or 2 cloves of garlic into a cup of water. Allow to infuse for 30 minutes or so. Strain into a spray bottle and then spray the affected plants.

So far so good. We’ve used this application three times and the aphids don’t like it. The lady beetle larvae that have reappeared seem undeterred, contentedly munching on aphids. Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised. Most dishes taste better with a hint of garlic, don’t they?!

What we’re really keen to find out is how the lady beetles know to appear. How do they know when a particular spot has an infestation of aphids? Their arrival seemed so random but they turned up right when we needed them. And while they haven’t obliterated the enemy yet, we know they’re not far off it.

Home-grown basil

For me, there’s nothing more rewarding than using home-grown herbs. It pleases the wannabe hobby farmer lurking within. So what is it that’s attractive about growing my own herbs? Well, I like that I’m saving the $2-plus per bunch for cut herbs from the greengrocer (which don’t last long) and only using what I need, so there’s less waste. But mostly what’s appealing is the simple pleasure that I’ve created a green space on an inner city balcony, I’m reaping the rewards of my garden, and enjoying the superb fragrance, taste and freshness of eating herbs that were living just moments ago.

The first of the birdseye chillies starting to ripen.

Jim and I have been fortunate enough to have a successful balcony herb garden for several years now. How we’ve managed this, I’m not sure because it doesn’t take a lot of input from us—regular watering and occasionally applying extra nutrients, checking for pests, pruning if needed (although that’s usually covered just by cutting what’s needed for cooking). I would say easily less than 30 minutes a week spent tending to it.

On our productive little patch (a 3m² balcony garden that only gets the morning sun) we grow three types of chillies—birdseye, habanero and Apache chief (Jim is a chilli freak)—basil, mint, flat-leaf parsley, tarragon, sage, lemon thyme, thyme, oregano, garlic chives and rosemary.

Even after all this time, I still find it satisfying each time I go and collect what I need for a recipe. Jim can attest that I frequently comment on the wonderful taste and smell of our fresh pickings. It amazes me that we can do this in such a small space and get so much out of it. It’s very rare that we have to buy fresh herbs to supplement our in-house supply, and this was always my goal with the balcony garden.

The new balcony garden potted with beetroot, silver beet, lettuce, coriander, rosemary and bay.

Now I’ve decided to turn my hands to the larger space on the back balcony we use for entertaining. Gone are the pots of colourful petunias, snapdragons and alyssums now past their best, replaced with beetroot, silverbeet, lettuce, coriander and another rosemary plant. I’m hoping that the different varieties of multi-coloured beetroot and silverbeet will brighten up the space as much as the flowers did.

I had started this process a few months ago, swapping out a sad looking palm for a bay tree to see how it would handle the very hot and drying conditions of a balcony that gets the harsh afternoon sun. The experiment went well—it has doubled in size in that time despite my stealing its leaves for cooking.

I’m sure that the rosemary will love its spot but not sure how the softer foliage of the others will go. Stay tuned! And any advice is gratefully accepted…