I know how to stop that critter! I have a large veggie garden that is critter free! how? My husband put up an electric fence around the whole garden. It is only about a foot high. There are three strands of wire. The bottom wire is an inch from the ground, the second one an inch from the bottom wire, and then an inch to the top wire. No animal can climb up or dig under without touching the wire. And once they hit it, that is the last time they will come near your garden. Now for deer. Yes, they can step over the wire, and that is where one of the Scarecrow Water Sprayer comes in. Buy one of those, and your garden will be deer and bird free. Now if I can only figure out how to electricute bugs.

a sharp stream of water will dislodge them and often that's enough if you repeat it every couple days until you stop seeing them. Insecticidal soaps are another option, but it must be sprayed directly on the aphids to kill them. It is non toxic to you or pets, but should not be sprayed on any insect you don't want dead or injured. Neem oil is another option and offers a week or two of residual control. It is non toxic to you or pets and generally won't kill anything that doesn't eat the plant material (but the plant material is safe for anything that isn't an insect).

When I begin to see cabbage worm damage on my plants I simply cover them with a light coating of flour in the early am. The morning dew is great at getting the flour to stick to the leaves. Apparently the flour makes the worms stomachs "explode" and the end up dying when they eat it. It has worked for me the last 4 years. You can also add cayenne pepper powder to the flour for added resistance to animals and insect alike.

Yeah, that's very common. If the aphids are on the sprouts themselves, you'll have to wash them before eating. I find that soaking the sprouts for an hour or so helps. As the weather gets colder the aphids will die off but unfortunately they leave behind quite a mess. -Mark Ps. Hey tcstoehr, i'm next door to you in Oregon City. Small world!