Parent's garden

[charlie]

Hello everybody.
I live in southern france and I need to take care of my dad's garden as he is tired and sick due to his advanced age.
I have never gardened before so I don't really know how to do it. Some plants have insects and diseases (my dad talks about "aphids" and "mildew") and there is also some bad weeds that he wants me to kill. I don't want to use complicated products that need to be mixed with water, as it is something I will do during the weekends for a couple of hours only. I prefer those products that are ready to use. Could anyone recommend some products? and what kind of bottle should I use so that it won't be too heavy or hard to handle?
Thank you.

[Chris]

mildew is powdery mildew and a fungal infection. a product called serenade can treat it, or any fungicide, some are topical (sprayed on the leaves) some are systemtic (fed to the roots), you'll recognize it by the white powdery stain on leaf surfaces.

Aphids are small soft bodied insects any number of insecticides will kill. You can also blast them with a jet of water from the hose, or release predatory bugs like lady bugs to eat them.

[charlie]

thank you! :)
could anyone recommend a specific type of bottle that will be easy to handle? could anyone also recommend a specific brand for this type of problems? (mildew, aphids and bad weeds). what brand is the most effective?
thanks.

[GardenGeek]

Well what can be better than vinegar to kill weeds. Just spray mild vinegar onto the weeds and they will get killed in hours but remember never spray that on grass because that will kill grass too! So be careful with that..And you can use a standard gardening sprayer to do that. I am sure you will not find that difficult to handle :)