I've had good success with loading a bit of dishwashing liquid into a hose-on spray bottle, which originally came as a liquid seaweed fertiliser bottle with a hose attachment. The bottle has a capacity of about 1 litre, and I just add a good solid squirt of detergent, and then spray it on until it's all gone, as part of a normal watering session - it takes around 15-20 minutes of hosing to empty the bottle.

I do this twice in a growing season. There are still a few bugs, but not nearly so many, and my chard leaves are no longer more hole than leaf!

I agree the other thing that seems to help gardens is planting some flowers to attract bee's which help get rid of smaller bugs and also planting onion or garlic plants on the out side of the garden which seems to help as well. We had a huge bug fest that was clearing the bean plants on either side of our garden plot but our garden really just had some visiting here and there.

I know this sounds crazy - but I went to a lecture about good bugs and bad bugs. Last year my squash plants were covered in aphids. I sat on my hands "literally" to see if the PhD. from my lecture was correct or not. I knew what lady bug nymphs looked like, and sure enough, within days, lady bugs were all over the situation. As long as there is no infestation, trust the good bugs to come to the rescue, but you have to wait and look for the signs and google the bug cycle of the lady bug so you know what the Calvary looks like. Sometimes, if you treat for aphids, you also hurt the lady bugs. Give Nature a chance to work.

Marigolds!

I agree the other thing that seems to help gardens is planting some flowers to attract bee's which help get rid of smaller bugs and also planting onion or garlic plants on the out side of the garden which seems to help as well. We had a huge bug fest that was clearing the bean plants on either side of our garden plot but our garden really just had some visiting here and there. Katni Marble Exporter.

"cayenne pepper and a little liquid soap into a sprayer"

This should work for repelling mammals (capsaicin repels many mammals and I've know many people who find soap effective against deer) and maybe some birds, though birds are insensitive to capsaicin.

I'm unsure what insects are affected by either, though some likely are.

I was hit hard by flea beetles last year - neem oil was effective on the tomatoes, but not so much the beans, several bushes of which turned into trap crops for the beetles. I hand-cleared vine borer eggs from my squashes, and that worked well, if a little time consuming - only two were bored into at all, and I was able to spear the grubs on the two plants that were hit right away to kill them. I've had great success keeping slugs off of whatever they're into with diatomaceous earth.

The best and least invasive/most natural control method depends on the pests - it will help to identify exactly what is active in your area, and then plan to guard against it using planting distribution (repellent crops and/or trap crops), checking specific lifecycle interventions (e.g. using row covers or clearing eggs), and powders or sprays as necessary. Take a layered approach that starts with passive control methods, then moves to physical barriers and your direct intervention as necessary, and finally uses chemicals as little as possible, targeted to what you specifically need to combat that isn't managed by the first two layers. (And sometimes it helps to share - I finally stopped squirrels and chipmunks from nibbling on every tomato by putting out more appealing/easier scraps for them, and putting catnip in a bucket near the tomatoes so my cat would frequent the area and scent it.)