Courtney, consider yourself successful if you have good luck with 50% of what you plant. Like Dave said, this is how we learn. I remember planting lettuce and chard my first year, and aphids got it so bad, I won't plant it anymore. I got the heebie jeebies and couldn't wash the leaves enough to be sure I wasn't eating the bugs. I think we all start out planting what we like to eat. With experience, we learn to plant a combination of things we like to eat, and things we can grow without too much trouble or too much chemical warfare. Every year, my pole beans get attacked by cucumber beetles, but they've never killed the whole plant. Worse they do is chew holes in the leaves and put some pin holes in some of my beans. I've decided I will share as long as they don't get too greedy. I also get aphids on my zucchini, but I can hose those off the plants well enough, at least until the end of the summer when I'm tired of zucchini and want to pull the plants. Every year, something dies of a bug or fungus or just not enough attention, and often it's the thing that grew just fine the year before. That's just the way it is. Allow me to echo the others and advise you not to expect a bug-free garden. You will do more harm than good trying to throw chemicals at everything you see. Let the wise folks here help you identify what you're dealing with, then wait for the proper advice. Between them and your own experiences, your results will improve from year to year, I'm sure.

In your other thread on the same question, I think it was pointed out that you need to wait until you've mowed the lawn 3 or 4 times before applying weed killer to it. I would also suggest that you check the directions on the bag to see whether they say anything about temperatures. And keep in mind that even if you have spread Scotts II in the past without a problem, you were spreading that on an established lawn. This time, you have a very immature lawn. I think your best approach is to hand pull until you've mowed at least 3 times. The Scotts site says that you should not apply when the temperatures are above 90. If it were my lawn, I wouldn't apply until the temperature dropped below 85.

My oxalis must be from Three Mile Island or something because those suckers are totally invasive. I have spent the last two springs trying to get rid of them and they come back stronger than ever. They are the more magenta pink variety. The previous owners of our house planted lots of super invasive species and I curse them every time I work on the gardens. Oxalis, English ivy, Virginia creeper, the x&@#($# perennial morning glory. What were they thinking? I garden organically so a chemical herbicide is out of the question. This spring, despite a heavy application of pre-emergent corn gluten, they are back. My current plan is to cover them with layers of cardboard and build up the soil. I've tried digging them out, but any little bulb left multiplies like crazy. We are going to sacrifice the other plants in the bed because these species are just so overwhelming.

When it comes to milkweed I leave the aphids be. My milkweed is surrounded by echinaceas that are unbothered by the aphids. I might be more concerned if they were going to spread to other plants. If aphids cover the plants, I let them remain as food for other things that eat aphids, which eventually show up. I'd rather let aphids exist than damage caterpillars. I've had milkweed covered by aphids and damage doesn't happen. So far, my swamp milkweed handles it all without struggle each year. Some years are worse than others.