[sf_rob]

I come to gardening with the same attitude. Basically if it doesn't grow well in my temperate climate then I just grow something else next year. Tomatoes, mint, and squash all grow like weeds and are super easy, peppers are finicky, and leafy greens are a battle against aphids.

That said, I know plenty of other hobby gardeners who treat their gardens as an exercise in optimization. Heck, I even know one engineer with a grid of (legal) marijuana plants who varies the nutrient composition of the soil in each planter to play with his quality/yield.

[Cerium]

I have had good luck in the battle against aphids on my kale by spraying them with a (1:1) mixture of 70% rubbing alcohol and water with a small amount of dish soap (I use about one sponge load worth in a full spray bottle).

[nanomonkey]

I have a similar recipe, only I add in a tablespoon or so of neem oil.

[vram22]

Neem is great. We use it a lot in India. It's one of what some people informally call super-plants or wonder-plants, some others being banana, coconut, and bamboo. All have various uses, for different parts of the plant, not just the obvious ones, e.g. in the case of banana, people in India eat the flowers and stems too, made into curries).

Edit: Also garlic, ha ha. What would we do without it, for both food and (informal) medical uses.

[Cactus2018]

I've had success against bugs using liquid Castile soap (Dr Bronner) in a recycled "foaming spray bottle" (Clorox Foamer)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insecticidal_soap

[hanniabu]

Just get a container of lady bugs, they're natural predators