The most common/popular/efficient method is to use fairly strong sprays of water (from the hose) to knock the aphids off. This will need to be done on a regular basis, but will sure help bring the population down to a dull roar. Insecticidal soaps are also helpful in controlling aphids. Use sparingly, in conjunction with the sprays of plain water.

A good strong stream of water, from a hose is not necessary and based on comments from amny people not too desireable, will knock the wee buggers off the plants. I've used a 1 quart spray bottle (similar to one that window cleaner comes in) filled with water on the rare occassions I find Aphids on any plants.
Many people have reported major damage to plants when using the nozzle of a hose and that 45 to 60 psi stream of water.
Spraying needs to be repeated because by the time you see an Aphid you can have as many as 5 generations of Aphids on your plants and even though those Aphids you knock off do not return to the plant these newer generations will move in to take the place of those you did knock off. Insecticidal Soaps may be of some help in controlling those other generations.

I use a spray bottle, too. If water alone fails to provide adequate control (and sometimes it does), I resort to neem. I use the same kind of bottle and only spray the clusters of infestations, carefully avoiding any beneficials.

This year after multiple rounds of water spray, I had to resort to a single application of neem -- it got the aphids under control enough for the beneficials to take over.

yep a good strong spray not jet of water dislodges them, but then you need to move the ants on so they don't bring them back. some ant control recipes on our remedies page.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page

Here's a great recipe that always works for me:
1 tsp vegetable oil
2-3 drops dish soap
2 cups water

Mix this up in a spray bottle and spray directly on the aphids or other pest. They can't breathe and will leave immediately. Does not harm the plant.

What pesticides are you using at this time? I use Neem oil and it does not have a major affect on Lady bugs, so I have seen them stick around after spraying. If all else fails get a bucket of ladybugs, about 10 dollars, and turn them loose on your plant. They eat all the aphids they can find.
Do ants cause aphids? I thought the ants ate the aphids also.

An article in the current issue of Garden Gate maghazine talks about controlling Aphids and states "Don't overfertilize plants or you'll cause lots of lush new growth that Aphids love." When you see more Aphids you are seeing tghe next generations, not the ones you knocked off the plant, emerging. Aphids prolifically produce live young almost as soon as they are born, live, themselves.
I have seen ants carrying Aphids from a plant to the nest, to feed those in the nest, but I have not seen an ant bringing an Aphids back from the nest to a plant.

pepper71, some ants "farm" aphids for their honeydew. You can see the ants collect the nectar off their behinds. If you have aphids, an ant trail up the plant stem and ants surrounding and guarding the aphids, you have a farming situation.

But not all ants farm aphids and you can have either ants or aphids or both just happening to be there.

I have a big problem with ants in my garden. One solution I've tried that seems relatively effective is mixing 1 part cake frosting with 1 part borax and putting it around the garden. I made little ant cups using paper cups and plastic circles (I cut the bottoms of some plastic cups off and put the mixture on that, then covered it with the paper cup, which I cut a few holes in) so the mixture didn't just seep into the ground or get washed away by rain.
The ants swarmed the stuff within an hour. It's been about two weeks now, and though there are still ants, I think there are fewer. I pulled the cups up a few days ago because the mixture was pretty much gone. I think I'll be reapplying within the next few days... if I can find more cups to dismember...

Almir, you can mix sugar and water with your boric acid instead of cake frosting. Much cheaper and easier. This solution works for sugar ants.

But why are you killing you ants outside? If they are sugar ants, they may only be in the garden to visit the blossoms and will pollinate for you.

Ants are not a real problem and organic gardeners are not going to put stuff out to kill off ants just because they exist. Contrary to what you jhave been taught all your life ants are a large, and necessary, part of our world since they help clean up our planet after us.

Questions about controlling aphids are probably number two on the most asked list here on GW. I have never posted my method for you to trial. I learned it many moons ago from a former Director of the Arnold Arboretum doing studies on how plants and bugs communicate. He decided that aphids do have some way of signaling each other. He taught me to simply run thumb and forefinger up and down a few plant stems loaded with aphids, squishing them. This seems to signal 'danger' to the others and by the next day most of them will disappear. Sounds too good to be true? Try it.

Sprayed plant with coffee but aphids and ants still present 2 days later.

Sprayed with worm tea and cornmeal*.

Ants and aphids are gone. Plant greening up again.

*Don't know if cornmeal helped get rid of aphids. It was intended to help against late blight on my toms.

Last year I had a lot of aphids early. I decided to just let them be. Soon enough there were plenty of ladybugs and the situation balanced out. I suppose if the ladybugs hadn't showed up it could've got out of control.