Many homemakers and gardeners take the easy way out when it comes to exiling odors and banishing bugs--they use toxic chemicals that may be harmful to their families and the earth. Ellen Sandbeck has discovered that the all-natural alternatives are just as easy and effective to use, and that they are wickedly fun. Sandbeck's way of banishing thistles from her backyard kingdom is a case in point: she chops off their heads and lets them bleed to death. Slug Bread & Beheaded Thistles reveals all of her best tricks. From bedroom to bathroom, garden to lawn, your home will be clean and green and pest-free.

Explode cockroaches with baking soda and sugar

Freshen your car with coffee grounds

Keep out slugs with a bread dough that kills

Armor your plants with soap spray

Grow disease-resistant plants by putting sick ones in your compost pile

Eradicate crayon marks with mayonnaise

Protect your roses with a minefield of garlic

Get rid of raccoons with dirty laundry

Cure plant viruses with spoiled milk