Q Help! I’m trying to avoid chemical pesticides but I have aphids all over my tomato plants.

A Stay away from garden centres with their dazzling range of noxious pest control sprays. You know the story. You pop in for a bag of organic, nonpeat compost and you’re confronted with a bottle of something that will solve your pest problem with a few squirts.

This approach will also kill off the predators that gobble the pests and it will wreck the balance of the eco-system the organic gardener is trying to maintain.

Browse green gardening websites where you can buy insecticidal soap (www.organiccatalog.com; £6.75 for 1l) and order bugs for the garden. You could buy lacewing larvae from www.greengardener.co.uk (£14.95 for 500) and they will hatch and then feast on your aphids.

Or for a cheaper way, spray your tomato plants with soapy water. The sap-sucking bugs won’t like this and they should drop off your plants. A dash of washing-up liquid in a 250ml bottle of water will do the trick. Longer term, the website gardenorganic.co.uk, recommends introducing plants that repel aphids, including marigolds, nasturtiums and garlic.

Nothing beats the simple method of squashing bugs by hand. Not endorsed by Buddhists, but when your precious courgettes are being drained of their lifeblood, it’s time to get nasty.

Welcome ladybirds and spiders like royalty, and centipedes also, as they will deter slugs and snails.

Flex your finger and thumb, and let the aphid war begin.

Q I’m visiting Africa and I know that I’m going to drink bottled water and create plastic waste. Is there an alternative?

A It depends how brave you are. Tap water is fit to drink in some parts of Africa, such as The Gambia, says Justin Francis, founder of the eco-travel agency www.responsibletravel.com. I can’t say that I’ve ever risked it; I’ve been too fearful of spending the whole trip cradling a lavatory.

In future, I might be tempted to try water purifying tablets (www.travelwithcare.com; £7.99), or try the latest microfilters with a short hose that suck up murky water and make it drinkable. Francis recommends Katadyn’s Vario Dual Technology MicroFilter, available on the Lonely Planet website (lonelyplanet.altrec.com/ shop/dir/travel:£40).

According to the travel company Intrepid, last year’s winner of the First Choice Responsible Tourism Awards, plastic water bottles cause the company lots of grief.

“Apart from the pollution, there is also a global warming issue – the freight in transporting bottled water from one side of the world to the other is considerable,” says the company’s founder Darrell Wade.

To get around this, buy a local brand of water. It’ll have a lighter carbon footprint and you will be supporting local industry.

GREENIE POINTS

DO IT

Looking for a cleaning product to shift grime and green guilt? According to Which? magazine, a new range fronted by the TV chef Antony Worrall Thompson is more effective than many conventional products. In a test of nine bathroom products, Fresh & Green’s bathroom cleaner and limescale remover (Waitrose, £1.99) came top, scoring 91 per cent. Second was Ecover’s limescale remover.

CLICK IT

The latest website from AntiApathy ( antiapathy.org) boldly accepts its duties as a green bully by calling itself The Nag ( thenag.net). Sign up and you will be e-mailed one thing to do every month to make your life more sustainable. The aim is to make a green life easy and accessible for people who want to do more but aren’t sure where to start.

SKIP IT

Friends of the Earth has criticised Shell. The green charity reported “misleading” adverts to the Advertising Standards Authority, saying that the oil company portrays itself as a leader in renewable energy but that only 1 per cent of Shell’s schemes are related to renewable power.

ECO-BLOGWATCH

In May, the G-Wiz electric car, beloved of eco-sensitive celebrities such as Jonathan Ross and Kristin Scott Thomas, failed a Department of Transport crash test at 35mph.

In its defence, GoinGreen, its manufacturer, said there had been no reported deaths or serious injuries in the 2,000 vehicles on UK and Indian roads. “The G-Wiz is designed and used as a low-speed urban commuter vehicle,” said its managing director, Keith Johnston. “It only reaches 40mph.”

Feelings were mixed on the blog. Mathew said: “I’ll take the extra armour, thank you, and let the planet be damned.” But Jim wrote: “You do not buy this vehicle because you think you’ll be as safe as houses, [but] to get around cheaply and cleanly in the city. I don’t think they should be banned.”

For Anna’s e-mail address and Eco-Blog, timesonline.co.uk/ecoworrier

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