Well, that third pic either looks like a juvenille squash bug or an Assassin bug. If it's a squash bug then that's bad - if it's an assassin bug then that's good. I can't really tell from your photo. Do a google.com search for both and look at the images that come up. That should help you determine which it is :-) Sorry, not sure about those first two pics. Here is a link that might be useful: Judy's Square Foot Garden Blog

Thanks! I always thought aphids were white or light green (what I see on my veggies from time to time)so I never considered them as a possibilty here. Would spraying them off with a hose be acceptable to rubbing them off? Even with gloves on, I know I'll be "feeling" them all over for days....

could be leafhoppers

Does it look like a gold ladybug? I can't really tell from the picture. Does it look like this? http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/jauwaert/Beetle_0007.jpg ha ha just a joke. does your perp look like this? you have to scroll down to find the gold beetle. According to the website, its called Metriona bicolor (Chrysomelidae). I bought a potato vine just because I saw one of these on it. I was amazed how pretty it was. It look just like a living gold beetle like Joan Rivers sells on her show. -- Only its tiny and alive! The girl at the store told me I could spray the vine to get rid of them but in fact I wanted to attract them so thats why I bought the vine. Haven't seen any though. I certainly would not want as many as you got.