I am in agreement with comments above... the single most important thing you can do to reduce pests, in my opinion, is provide healthy soil. It is not often mentioned that most plants _do_ have defenses of their own; what we consider to be "flavors" are often chemical defenses against insects. Provided that the plants are healthy enough for those defenses to be effective, they can often fend for themselves. Cucumber beetles, for example, are attracted to compounds given off by plants under stress. This could be caused by disease, inadequate water, or previous attack by other insects - such as squash bugs. Given a high organic matter, pH-balanced soil with good drainage & adequate water, plants are healthier & less attractive to the beetles. While there may still be some present, their population is considerably smaller. The second thing, as mentioned by Lacyvail, is to create (or at least not discourage) a local ecosystem that encourages beneficial insects. It has often been mentioned by those who purchase those insects, that it's hard to keep them around. To do so, you need to provide a food supply for all points in their life cycle. A wide range of flowers, with long or overlapping blooming periods, is helpful. In addition to perennials _near_ your vegetable garden, plant annuals _in_ the garden. And for the larvae - which represent your true resident population - you might need to learn to tolerate enough of an aphid population to sustain them. If you are accustomed to killing off your aphids early, you might be inadvertently destroying the next generation of ladybugs & lacewings as well. For severe infestations, it might be more effective to go after the ants (which usually spread the aphids) rather than the aphids themselves. There may be some truth to companion planting; I rotate all of my vegetables each year, and have noted some good combinations (such as beans & Swiss chard). There are also some plants that don't play well with others, such as okra. If your garden is high-intensive/high-density, then it is more important to know which plants _do not_ grow well together, than it would be with conventional methods. But I think that for the most part, the issue is not which plants grow with which - it is to grow as wide a range of small plantings as possible, as opposed to large blocks. Large blocks of anything (mono cropping) promote the easy spread of insects or disease, and provide a stronger scent trail for flying insects to follow. When I began saving seeds seriously, it forced me to alter the way that I gardened. If I wanted pure seed, I had to provide space & barriers between different varieties. This meant that my beans & tomatoes, for instance, could no longer be grown together in one place, but were spaced out in different "cells" throughout the garden. In any form of experimentation, there are often unexpected results... and in this case, the fringe-benefit was an enormous reduction in insect damage. This is not to say that I have no damage - only that it has been reduced to the point of being (usually) tolerable. One last note... to encourage greater soil fertility, about 10 years ago I began to leave clover alone when weeding. I would still pull it out if it was directly in a row, but in paths & between rows was OK. After years of this, I now get a good stand of clover in the garden. When rabbits get in (as they always do) they prefer the clover in the paths to almost all of the vegetables. I guess that makes it a "trap crop" for rabbits. ;-) Only when I began to grow soybeans did I find something they like even better (and "like" is an understatement).

GM, Lots of people who do big-time container gardening are in love with the new poly-fiberglass and poly-resin containers because they give you the classic look of majestic urns and pots without the incredible weight and expense that often accompanies them. I'm glad you're finding life in OK rewarding. We only moved 80 miles from Ft. Worth to here, and guess what we discovered? To our amazement, we found we had moved 80 miles north so we could be colder in the winter (which was expected) AND hotter in the summer (totally unexpected!). We joke now about what poor planning that was on our part! I would miss the thunderstorms! One of my favorite things about Oklahoma weather is the "thundersnow", which I think we've experienced here at least three times.....it is just like a thunderstorm with thunder and lightning, but with snow instead of rain. Until we moved here, I never knew such a thing existed. The brutal ice storms usually miss us here in extreme southcentral Oklahoma, although one several years ago literally stopped halfway through Love County, so the northern part of the county had some damage but the southern part didn't. The closest damage to us was a mile or two away, and major damage was about 3 miles away. During the 2005 and 2006 drought/wildfires that plagued this state, we went months without a thunderstorm here, and it was AWFUL. Aside from the dryness, trees dying, pastures burning, etc., and the exhaustion of having up to five wildfires in one day, I just flat missed the thunderstorms and wondered when we'd ever have one again. I remember that when we finally had a thunderstorm, EVERYONE sat outside on porches and covered patios and watched it rain....at least until a lightning strike ignited a barn full of hay and sent several fire departments racing in that direction. We watched as the frogs came out of the pond and sat in the rain. It was funny. (And the lily pond only had water in it because we kept filling it with the hose to keep it from drying up. We'd even moved fish from the creek to the pond as the creek dried up.) Later, talking to the next door neighbors, we found out they all had been sitting outside watching the rain and lightning and frogs....just like us. We laughed and decided that we all were "easily amused", but we sure were glad to have that thunderstorm! (And we didn't have another one for several months, either.) Keep us posted how what kind of lovely container you buy and I hope you'll post a photo and show us how it looks! Dawn

Yes, I survived. I have been trying to download pics and my internet connection is not cooperating. (OT-does it make a difference in speed when you have several people using the same wireless connection at the same time? DS21 is home from college this week and the internet has been running frustratingly slow since he has been online too.) Anyhoo, I served 19 ladies and everyone loved the tables. The dining room table didn't change from the last pic I posted. The folding table in the LR had the vase filled w/ black-eyed susan's and then I had 2 small votive candle holders made of black metal and shaped in kind of a "S" curve on each side of the centerpiece. The kitchen table had the milk glass bowl that was shown in the first pic filled w/ hedge apples. (Luvs-real veges would have looked great, but time constraints made me use what I already had. I'll definitely keep it in mind for next time!) I also had votives w/ bright green candles and small milk glass dishes w/ nuts and chocolate. While the tables were all kept pretty simple by some standards, they suited the occasion and I was very pleased. Everyone enjoyed hearing about how we collected the hedge balls! I really appreciate everyone's suggestions and help. I will continue to try and post final pics. (DS21 is only home for 2 weeks this summer!) Thanks again! mommacass

Well, Cecily, I'm glad my trials & tribulations are SO entertaining & comical for you, meanwhile I'm shaking my fist at these damned pests! ;) I'm doing things much outside my comfort zone & I'm thoroughly enjoying it, except for certain things like hoping I didn't unknowingly smear a sawfly larva in my hair, freshly plucked from a leaf, when I wiped the sweat from my brow, or the sinking feeling of "wait, is that a spider mite web I feel across my face or is that just a single strand of my own hair that I'm feeling?! Oh God, what if I have spider mites IN MY MOUTH?!" Yes, it may not sound like when I'm posting every little new critter I come across, but I really am having fun with these roses! It's relaxing (believe it or not) and quite fulfilling (already) & I'm super stoked I can share my experiences with like-minded people who give me advice & input, because I really think my husband is getting tired of hearing me talk about roses already...