Spending time in your garden is one of life’s great pleasures. Studies have shown that gardening can raise serotonin levels (that’s the happiness chemical) and reduce stress. But for all the positives and all the ways gardening can benefit your mental health, there is a negative that all gardeners must face: the constant battle against bugs. Luckily, there’s a simple trick to get rid of garden pests that love to munch on your burgeoning harvest, and it won’t cost you a bundle or take much time at all.

The first weapon you need in your war against the invading garden pests is a racket. Yep, a simple racket for badminton or tennis, or even a kid’s racket from a backyard playset, will do. If you don’t have one, you can visit a secondhand sports store or order a cheap one online. Next, you’ll need a 5-gallon bucket that can be purchased at any hardware store, which you’ll fill with soapy water. The goal here is to use the large surface area of the racket to gently whack the plant and knock any bugs setting up shop into the bucket. Surprisingly simple trick? Yes. But there’s also some nuance to the technique and a few things to consider depending on the pest you’re trying to expel from your garden.

To test out this trick, fill your bucket with some water and a bit of dish soap. Next, use your newfound plant-smacking skills to gently hit your plant (without breaking its stem) to propel any bugs into the bucket with your racket. Then, to make sure they don’t come back, cover the bucket with a lid and wait a day or two. Your bucket bugs should be dead and ready to be disposed of into a garbage can. This whack-a-pest trick is great to get rid of those pesky Japanese beetles that love to eat vegetable leaves or invasive aphids.

The best part about using this racket and bucket method is that you won’t have to set up any intricate (and sometimes expensive) traps or spend time washing down your plants and dropping the bugs into soapy water. You’ll hit them straight into the water instead. Keep in mind, however, that Japanese beetles that have fed on a plant’s leaves have an odor that attracts more beetles, so it might be worth giving your plants a wash-down anyway, depending on how bad your infestation was. You may also need to repeat the racket trick, as their larvae live in the soil under plants.

Once you’ve used this satisfying method of pest control, it’s hard to go back, but you should also take steps to prevent these bugs from coming back. Companion plants such as garlic, catnip, or geraniums can keep Japanese beetles out of your garden, and marigolds can deter aphids by attracting predatory wasps.