Figuring out what can be grown successfully in your particular location is part of gardening, and I think you are already getting to be an expert at this. We no longer plant squash because the squash vine borers usually decimate the crop. We nearly always get a good tomato crop, so that is a winner at our location. It helps that the local rabbits do not seem to be very interested in chewing on tomato leaves. I have to fight off the japanese beetles in order to get a raspberry crop. It is tiresome, swatting them into a cup of warm soapy water, by the dozens, but it does work. I am glad that your witch hazel and neem oil was helpful on the citrus trees. We can't grow citrus here in Madison, too far north. Our blueberry shrubs are green and healthy, but there weren't enough bees out to complete the pollination this spring, due to week after week of rain and cloudy weather. We will get a crop, but it will be reduced. With gardening, I try to focus on what is working for me.

Where in the United States are you? Citrus indicates someplace wamer.
What is that soils pH?
How much organic matter is in that soil?
When was the last soil test done?
What did that soil test tell you?
Plants growing in soils with the wrong pH and nutrient imbalances are more likely to be attractive to insect pests.

Ericwi We seem to have great luck with strawberries, peas,, beans, and squash has never presented too much of a problem before. Funny thing is we only moved 15 minutes away and I have more problems here than I had in the 7-8 years of gardening at the other place. But I also kept maintenance minimal in that garden, it was 1/4 of the size and I hadn't ventured into fruit trees yet.

Kimmsr I am in Ohio, zone 5. My citrus trees are in containers that I bring indoors when the weather changes.
(Head down) I have never tested my soil. I know that should have been the first thing but just haven't gotten around to it.
Because of financial constraints I planted all of my squash along with corn and potatoes directly in the compost pile. Last year I did the same and it seemed to work well.
I was going to do a FE foliar spray for some added nutrients and wan't sure if it was too late for nematodes?

Definitely do a soil test. University of Mass does a thorough one for 10 bucks, and you can get % organic matter for an extra 5 dollars. Well worth it.

The job of pests is to destroy the unhealthy plants so the healthy ones get all the sun and moisture. If I ever see bad bugs or disease, I decide I need to work on the soil. Add organic matter, spray with compost tea to give the soil food web a population boost, add micro nutrients with sea weed extracts and/or seaweed (I collect it at the beach), find a good mineral supplement, etc. etc.

Hmmmm . . . I just saw you've got raised beds -- did you mix any purchased "soil" in with the native soil? Very important.

Ohio State University no longer does soil testing, although some of the Cooperative Extension Service offices may send soil samples for testing to other labs, but they will give you a list of soil testing labs you could use.
There is some evidence that plants lacking some nutrients are more attractive to inesct pests then plants growing in a good healthy soil. There is also an interesting article in the current issue of Organic Gardening magazine that indicates plants being attacked by pests send out signals that call predators in to help control these attackers.
The primary objective of an organic grower should not be to know which poisons to spray when but to make the soil they have onto a good healthy soil that will grow strong and healthy plants that insect pests do not find so delictable.

Thanks for the input. I do plan on testing the soil but now that I am mid-season shouldn't I wait until next year? The plants that are doing the worst are actually in my compost pile (which primarily consists of old chicken manure and bedding, yard waste, kitchen scraps and shredded newspaper). I planted pumpkin last year and didn't have any problems. I usually rotate crops every year or two but decided I would try to plant them in the same location this year. I am ordering nematodes and they should be here next week. Hopefully that will prevent any further damage to my garden and then I plan to amend as needed.

Not rotating could be your problem. As far as I know you can soil test at any time. Spring is the best time to soil test, so you can amend your soil before you plant.

If Japanese beetles could post on Facebook, they might be complaining about "Relentless gardeners." Every summer they infest our raspberry patch, and every summer I am out there with "the soapy cup of death," catching maybe 2 dozen a day. The everbearing red raspberries are generally healthy, free of disease, and this is a productive patch. But it is also irresistable to Japanese beetles, it seems.

The one thing that I have been relatively free of this year are Japanese Beetles. They usually love my golden raspberries as well, but I think sending the chickens out early might have ended their cycle early even if I did lose a few raspberry plants.

You need to know about your soil now, not next spring, so you can plan on what you need to do now to get that soil into a good healthy condition for next spring. Since it can take several months to change your soils pH waiting until next year to find out what it is and what, if anything, you need to do to correct any problems means that soils pH may not be corrected until the following year, so now you are two years from having a good healthy soil. Other nutrients can be the same, unless you use synthetics which will not make a good healthy soil.

Any recommendations for a good, yet budget friendly, soil test kit.
I have dealt with Arbico Organics and this one http://www.arbico-organics.com/product/Rapitest-Soil-Test-Kit/1275203 is one I have been thinking about.
Also, I have several different beds that I have built over the last 3 years. Should I test each one? Or should I test the first year beds, second year, blueberry bed. . .separately?

The soil testing kits sold in garden centers are not very reliable and often do not really supply you with the information you need. I would find a good soil testing lab that was not very expensive and then use these simple soil tests for other information.

1. Soil test for organic matter. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24 hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight. For example, a good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top.

2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drainsâ too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up.

3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart.

4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer your soil will smell.

5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy.

IME, tree fruits and annual crops tend to have very different problems.

My home garden is sandy loam. Generally speaking most vegetables do well - there is always something having a problem but that is very normal. Tree fruit is an absolute struggle. The trees grow great, apples and plums mostly, and set lots of fruit. The plums always drop the fruit by mid-summer or it rots. The apples are a mixed bag, one always grows a lot of small apples that are inedible from the boring worms, two others make a smaller number of edible apples.

Contrast to a friend's property a few miles away that is all clay. Two standard apple trees just totally thrive, huge trees that produce masses of excellent apples, no spraying, no nothing. I have noted that in general thriving apples are on heavy soil - not water-logged, but soil that does not dry out deeply (a foot down, or more) at any time. I suspect that especially with the various dwarf-size rootstocks if the trees are in soil that gets droughty - like mine - there are going to be problems.

Your money will be much better spent on a lab rather than on a test kit.

Even if you test all three beds individually (which may not be necessary) the University of Massachusettes lab will only cost you $30.00.

Here is a link that might be useful: U Mass soil test

University of Florida doesn't test like kimmsr does. You just take soil samples from all around the garden and mail them in. They give you instructions on how to take the samples. Our horticultural agent will go over your results and reccomend what you need to add to your soil. It costs under 10 bucks to get a good analysis I would check with pros first before trying to figure it out yourself. So many varieables, especially if someone lived there before you. God only knows what they added to the soil.