Boric acid is not an organic material but it is allowed for use in organic agriculture. That distinction might make a difference to some people. Living in San Antonio I have become immune to the occasional roach. I don't tolerate them but at least I don't run screaming when I see one. When my house was being remodeled I talked to the builder's exterminator. He told me that boric acid would work against roaches, earwigs, termites, and wood ants but it had to be everywhere in the walls. Based on that advice I had the builder put a tablespoon of boric acid into each space before blowing in the insulation. I have not had more than a handful of roaches since then. That stuff really works. Every time we have seen a roach, we can attribute it to bringing in a cardboard box from a grocery store. Boxes from our local Sam's Club are always good for a roach or two. Boric acid is good against most all insects. Use it only indoors because your soil might be very sensitive to additional boron. Whenever I move I go in to a new house or apartment, the first thing I do is dust the entire place with boric acid. It is amazing how many roaches can die in a month. I counted them in my first apartment and got about 300. After that I never saw another one in five years. I even had the manager stop spraying my apartment. For normal prevention I use it in the corners of every drawer and cabinet and behind the stove and refrigerator. By doing that I have lived roach free in the land where roaches rule since 1981. What are they eating? Anything from fungus to food. What eats roaches? Lizards, geckos, birds, and toads. If you are fully organic, you should have those in abundance. If you want more of one of them quickly, put in a bird bath, bird house, and bird feeder. Regarding spiders, their most effective natural predator is the mud dauber wasp. Mud daubers shun publicity so you will most often see them in out buildings and in the garage. Leave them alone and they will not bother you but they will rid the garden of most spiders.

Composted manure every few years and shredded hardwood mulch every spring right after I prune even when I use manure. Never take out the old stuff, just pile right on top of it. Only fertilizer I use and the roses love it. I started with clay soil you had to use dynamite to dig a hole and I can now dig with a normal shovel 18" straight down. Every new rose just takes off as soon as it gets its roots in the good stuff. You can certainly supplement with a fertilizer but try to stick to organics and whatever you do no all in one granular fertilizers with fungicide/insecticide in it. They will sterilize the soil you just spent so much time and energy bringing to life.

Here's my experience w/same/similar problem. Last year I had similar soil - but I have a flower bed, not a veggie plot. I did similar stuff & topped it w/lots of mulch (I think mostly pine bark mulch). Also, I had amended the soil w/lots of leaves & N of various forms (coffee grounds, dried blood, compost, etc.) Last fall I asked the same question & got a response similar to "if you build it they will come." They definitely like/need good amount of moisture AND something to eat (leaves, newspaper, cardboard, mulch, etc.). This spring, the top layer (top 2-4") - underneath the newly added spring mulch - looked beautiful but still no worms. So, this spring I got some worms from local bait store. I pushed aside the mulch, dug down about 2" and put them there. They are extremely happy and have multiplied (I think)! Don't know if you can do this amount of mulch on your veggie garden, but mine are very happy - and live about 2" under the mulch. And, I like Sue's suggestions too - sounds perfect for your situation. All the Best, Tree

If you can have chickens where you live I highly recommend them. I grew up in SE FL where there were lots of roaches. Now I live in SE ID where I've seen 2 in the last 35 years. I keep my compost bins in the chicken run itself and give the chickens the opportunity to pick and scratch through everything that goes into the bin. They enjoy it, get some nourishment from it, contribute their droppings to it, shred it, all in all make composting an efficient and fun way to dispose of my yard and kitchen waste. Not many bugs at all in it. Chickens don't take much work, aren't expensive to care for and our six provide all the eggs we need. Imho get chickens and get rid of cockroaches.