Don't be so hasty, because those are not imported cabbageworm eggs. Check the Kansas State link below, and you will see that cabbage white b'fly eggs stick out, like pointy bumps. Besides, if you were having that number of eggs, you would be seeing cabbage whites everywhere, and it's a bit early for them yet. http://www.oznet.k-state.edu/entomology/extension/KIN/KIN_2006/kin-4/Figure3.jpg More likely, you are seeing aphids, perhaps an early infestation of cabbage aphids, but it could be any of several species. When you look at your photo at 200%, you can see that the feeding is either punctures or rasping, with punctures typical of aphid feeding. See photo here. http://www.taunton.com/CMS/uploadedImages/Images/kitchen_gardener/042026012-01_ld.jpg To confirm, catch some ladybeetles in your house and put them on the leaves. If they start eating, you know they are aphids. You are going way overboard with the pesticides. If you are going to play by the same rules as certified organic growers, you can use rotenone and pyrethrum only for absolute emergencies. Besides, insecticidal soap would work better. It's the weapon of choice with aphids. Personally, I would keep an eye on those ladies, but would not intervene at this point. Unfortunately, the rotenone probably wiped out your beneficials  an honest mistake because predatory mites and syrphid fly larvae are very hard to see because they are so small. Do be on the lookout for little squiggly things, maybe one-eighth inch long, among the aphids. Syrphid flies are usually quick to find aphids. The larvae suck the aphids dry, like vampire worms. Here is a link that might be useful: my website

Jane: Though I find myself very rarely questioning the advice of Rhizo1 or Dave, I'd go about it differently here in SoCal. First, I'd bite the bullet and go buy a bag or two of Kellogg's N'rich and work that into the soil now along with a mix of organic meals cottonseed or feather for N, bone for P, and kelp for K and other micronutes. I buy mine in bulk but I think Home Depot has a bag that has them all made by Vigoro. In about a month or so, you could start planting things like the brassicas you mentioned, as seedlings. You could probably find some transplants at Armstrong's et al and Home Depot/Lowe's will have common starts like Kale and Broccoli and even spinach starts. If you have light set up for seedlings, you could start them right now, and start hardening them off in 3-4 weeks -- in the ground by mid to late January. Snow peas could be direct sown by the end of December. The veggies you mentioned -- I've grown all but beets. And here's what I've noticed as far as pests/diseases. Occasional cabbage aphids on brassicas, but pretty easy to control with water, soap, or neem oil. The cabbage loopers are pretty much gone by now, but they'll be back next summer. Again, pretty easy to control with BT K. Slugs, choose your method. That's about it for the brassicas. PM or mites -- they're just not susceptible. For lettuces-- I never see anything on them, except last year when I tried to grow some in the summer and whitefly nailed 'em Carrots and radishes -- once again, I never see anything on them. Snow Peas -- mites? Really? I nver see anything on them either, but as Spring progresses, PM is an issue. The best way to deal with that is to treat proactively -- i.e., start treating with a fungicide early on and stay diligent. You can't wait to see the symptoms or it's too late. Spinach, once again, nothing but slugs and maybe earwigs. In all cases, I put 2 toothpicks right up next to the stalk of all my seedlings just so any cutworms don't come by and snip them at the soil line. A note on the brassicas -- SoCal is now home to the Bagrada Bug. So, do some research for pics, monitor, and you should be fine. I saw some on my kale this past summer, squished them for 3 weeks or so and haven't seen them since. And I have all sorts of brassicas planted this fall. Dave: Solarization is a great idea, but I have found it's not very effective during any season but Summer. JMO. Kevin This post was edited by woohooman on Fri, Dec 5, 14 at 16:23

I like Johnny's Seed - Seed Starting Calculator. http://www.johnnyseeds.com/e-PDGSeedStart.aspx??source=HomeSeedCalc0111. I will probably use this calculator this year to determine the planting dates and use Martha Stewart's Seed Starting Worksheet - www.marthastewart.com/seed-worksheet - to keep tract of what I do. I agree with you - I have got to keep better records of what/when I plant and when/what to fertilize. I finally organized an excel worksheet for ordering our vegetable seeds - I think I have that documented for easy seed ordering decisions. Here are a couple of photos of our soil sifter (we have rocky soil in places) - we built it to fit our wheel barrow so it does not move once I place it on the wheel barrow. It works pretty good for sifting soil in a small area. I go down the garden row and throw in surface rocks then dump the rocks in my 4-wheel trailer and dump the wheel barrow of dirt back in the garden. Thought it might also come in handy for sifting soil for the Soil block mixture. FYI RE: Row Cover Gardening Posted by: karin_mt 4 (My Page) on Thu, Dec 30, 10 at 12:21 I like both of those web resources for seed starting. The Johnny's one is particularly cool. I found that the hardest thing was forecasting the frost-free date inside my greenhouse so I could predict when to start plants that are destined to stay inside. And yes, a customized Excel sheet is a great way to go! I have an Excel database that starts from the very beginning of our gardens, so I have a pretty good history of what I've planted each year, where it's from and how it did. There are a few gaps though, notably which type of raspberry variety is where. I also have a little bar graph that I use to track the planting dates, exciting weather events, bloom periods and key harvests. Each year I print out the template, then fill in the bars by hand over the relevant dates. This gives a very interesting comparison of your growing climate from year to year. Maybe someday these will be key pieces of climate data? The note-taking is also helpful for reflection - it helps you firm up your thoughts. Now, your soil screener looks like a very nice tool. I like that it fits firmly on the wheel barrow. What do you do with all the rocky stuff that is left over? Maybe you'll have enough for a stone border? Do you have alkaline soil too? Do you find that your soil gets clumpy, even when it's nice soil? That's something I've noticed lately. Even though the soil is beautifully textured (not clay), it forms hard clumps. I am wondering if this is from alkalinity and the particles being inclined to stick together. RE: Row Cover Gardening Posted by: 7000feet 3 (My Page) on Fri, Dec 31, 10 at 10:40 Your method for keeping notes is helpful! The Salt River runs through our property (a mild to raging stream depending on the runoff and irrigation needs - so I return the rocks to their rightful owner - the river. We have great soil because we are on an ancient river bed but the bad part is the top soil varies from 0-36" depending on the swells. We tried to locate our garden on deep top soil but still had to haul off large rocks in the beginning and now sift the soil as we plant and haul off the small rocks. I haven't tested our PH but is alkaline soil like yours. It does get clumpy but try to keep it moist during germination and use a lot of mulch to keep the walk areas dry/walkable. We add manure every fall before plowing the garden. We purchased sifted top soil for the GH and added a lot of vermiculite, peat moss & compost - not problems with GH soil. Here is a photo of what works well for us to remove rocks from our garden. I purchased this wonderful dumping trailer that hooks on my 4-wheeler. I rake the rocks in a row and use a manure fork to throw them in the trailer - then dump the rocks on the river bed with their cousins. RE: Row Cover Gardening Posted by: soonergrandmom Z6 Grove (My Page) on Sat, Jan 1, 11 at 16:26 I have used the mini-block maker for years. I use either Jiffy Mix or ProMix with it. With ProMix you may have to throw out a small stick or two, but it holds together fine. I didn't know about the attachment for the medium block maker that makes the hole for the little one to fit into until several years after I bought mine, and I never remember to order it. So I don't use the two blocks together. Some things grow so rapidly that they need to be started in the medium size, but I start all tomato and pepper seeds in the tiny block and pot up to small containers when they get their first real leaves or when they appear to be a good strong seedling. Some things I don't need to plant 20 of, so I write the name on a popsicle stick, lay the popsicle stick between the row of blocks and slide the blocks over in groups of five to a small piece of foil. I crimp the foil up a little to hold the stick so I don't lose the name. I don't make real plant markers until I am sure I have good transplants. I make the permanent marker at the time I put them in their first small container. I am much more likely to plant 5 seeds of 4 varieties of tomato than I am to plant 20 of the same kind, so it works well for me. RE: Row Cover Gardening Posted by: ngrrsn 7 (My Page) on Tue, Sep 11, 12 at 1:33 Would like to know more about the tunnel construction; why the wire mesh instead of pvc or waterline pipe? What is the mesh sizing? Is this welded wire? What size is the wire (#10,12,14)? How easy is it to form the wire? Is it fairly strong, or does it bend easy? Why the gaps between sections of wire? How is the wire secured to the ground? What is the height of the tunnel at the center line? I am very interested in this. RE: Row Cover Gardening Posted by: Hudson...WY 3 (My Page) on Fri, Sep 28, 12 at 9:09 The mesh is 47" 12 1/2 gauge Field Fence available at most farm supply stores - a full roll is 330' but most stores have smaller rolls as well. I cut the fence in 6' lengths with small bolt cutter or wire cutter and cut the vertical wire such that there is 6" of wire on both sides of the hopes to push into the ground to anchor the fence. The center height is approx. 24". I plant in wide rows of 30". The mesh size is 6" squares (for easy reach-in, weeding etc.) although the bottom couple of rows are a bit smaller. I gap the fence in the rows approx. 18" to reduce the cost and because the row cover does not sag with the gap. I like the fence because it will last many years and I live in a climate where we have had snow every month of the year and periods of hail or strong wind. The fence does an excellent job holding up the weight of the snow and withstanding the wind/hail etc. It pulls out easy at season end and stores by stacking one inside the other. I have never tried PVC pipe so I am not in a position to compare. I am sure this fence method is more expensive but I like the way it performs. RE: Row Cover Gardening Posted by: Hudson...WY none3 (My Page) on Fri, Sep 28, 12 at 10:44 This Years Broccoli using the tunnel method - keeps out the insects too. I usually plant veggies in the garden with the row cover the 1st week of may or earlier if I can work the soil. Without the row cover, there is a threat of frost until the middle of June and after the end of August. Well worth the effort! RE: Row Cover Gardening Posted by: ngrrsn 7 (My Page) on Fri, Sep 28, 12 at 17:18 Thanks! That helped a lot! I Appreciate the follow up. 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harlequins dont show up until august around here and i try to avoid their season. Supposedly insecticidal soaps, sabadilla and pyrethrum are effective. they overwinter in garden trash (old plants). you can control them by destroying their eggs that are found in early spring on the undersides of early blooming plants. i have not been able to control them and the best i can do is to hand pick as many as i can. some of what i wrote here was from The Encyclopedia of Natural Insect and Disease Control that was published in 1984 by the Rodale Press.