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Growing tomatoes has given gardeners a headache for generations. But now it seems there is an effective cure for blight, wilt and all manner of pests and diseases - and it was lurking in the medicine cabinet all along. For aspirin, scientists say, is just the medicine to create a healthy tomato plant. Feeding it to your plants can help ward off diseases and boosts yields, they have found. Gardeners are advised either to spray their plants with a solution containing the drug, or to soak the seeds in an aspirin liquid before sowing. The drug is particularly effective at warding off blight, a devastating fungal disease that can wipe out an entire crop in days. The two forms of the disease - fusarium and verticillium - are particularly common after wet summer rain, and can strike swiftly with spores spreading on the wind. A recent study by the US Department of Agriculture, found that the use of an aspirin spray, which can be made at home, resulted in a 47 per cent reduction in blight. Salicylic acid - the active ingredient in aspirin - creates 'systemically acquired resistance', priming the plants against microbial or insect attack, according to a study published in the Annals of Applied Biology. The substance is effective in fighting disease in the nightshade family, which includes potatoes and tomatoes.