A most effective home-made pesticide

In my last update of the Pests and Bugs post, I wrote that I would follow up with some more insecticidal soap recipes. I have meanwhile tested one against leafhoppers with pretty good results.
In this post, I share the insecticidal soap recipe and introduce a new pest: the leafhoppers - showing photos of them and the damage they wreak.

Two posts have been updated.

The Pests and Bugs post has been updated:
Entries for scales and spider mites have been added (including photos!). The post and its structure have also been revised and edited; it now contains three sections on the prevention, identification, and control of pests.
Personally I find this version more organized and accessible, so be sure to check it out. And did I mention the post features photos of the new pest additions?

I also updated the Gardening Supplies page, which gives some information about where to obtain needed these. It still lacks some photos and more specific detail, I'll get around to that; for now, check out the update for a revised map with driving directions to Ahmed Maher Street (تحت الربع) - and if you are wondering what that is, then you need to check out the page.

Pests and Bugs Post Updated

I want to share and highlight the update of the post published earlier about pests and bugs. I added an entry about whiteflies and meanwhile also had ran into a mealybug and was surprised to be able to produce some pretty decently sharp photos of it with a point-and-shoot camera.
To check out the photos and learn more about pests check out the post. Personally, I am excited to be adding clear enough up-close photos of the mealybug, so check them out if you are curious.

Herb Garden, Interrupted - A Revisit

It has been well over a couple of weeks since I started my container herb garden, and I had been so looking forward to following up on that first post with updates of my then-presumed would-be-lush garden.
Regrettably, this is not the case - it is a bumpy road to herbal abundance: the spearmint seems infested with one or likely more diseases and/or pests, and I (gasp) caused the thyme to dry out for fear of overwatering it.
Nonetheless, I am hoping the garden and I will rebound soon from our loss.
In this post I describe the problems I faced (introducing a couple of new plant pests), my recovery efforts so far (introducing a propagation technique), and also update on aspects that are pleasantly going on track.

When Birds Attack

During winter, my plants suffered from a ferocious bird attack. Sparrows targeted the moisture-rich, soft leaves of the succulent plants. Some, like a potato trough I was growing for the beautiful velvety trailing green, was irrevocably ravaged; while others I was able to restore to out-of-control monstrous vividity (post on that soon). In this post I describe how I managed to harmlessly drive the birds away.

Pests and Bugs

Plants are prone to pests and bugs. A lot of the bugs are tiny and attach themselves to spots of the plant that make them not always directly detectable: plant crowns, underside of leaves.
Regular inspection of your plants in general and these spots in specific will allow you to control pests and bugs before they do any or much damage. Leaf discoloration, wilting, wrinkling, curling, and stunted growth at the tips are all signs of some infestation; so always watch out for these symptoms.
In this post I present the most common bugs and discuss my pest control methods, I do not use any chemical pesticides.