Thankfully I don't experience the #'s of JB's where I am, although I googled for a photo, and they do look familiar. I came across several sites that said putting out the baited traps seems to attract more beetles to you then to merit the number trapped and killed. And the extra beetles do more devastation to gardens on their journey to the traps. One site indicated that to remove the bugs by hand would reduce the number of new visitors by half (only 1/2?) compared to leaving all the beetles on the plant. Too bad the grub killers harms the earthworms, that method sounds pretty good. Just a question, are all the white grubs under lawn the grubs of the japanese beetle or do some belong to something else? One year I needed to clear a fairly new sodded area for a bed (we didn't plan that well) and I could practically peel the sod back like a rug, and I would judge that there had to be 8-10 white grubs just in a square foot area alone. I had no idea what they would grow into, so I gathered and flushed down the toilet (seemed to gross to squish). Although as kids one year we had our own 'fear factor' and had picked a baby's washtub full of tent caterpillars off of our ash tree and dared each other to 'walk' in the bucket (to make caterpillar wine?) and we did. Oh to be a kid again. ~k~

Well Jack, you are wrong, again! I did not "do a search for 'are there any vegetables that critters will not eat' when you already knew the answer was no". You see, after I finished reading all of these wonderful and informative comments, I did further research and LEARNED (because I am still capable of admitting I don't know everything) that deer/critters in one area will eat some things while deer/critters in other areas eat other things and that most vegetables will ultimately be subject to deer/critter consumption. But you have to admit you have a way of going off topic.

Plants my cat *loves:* * Dracaena marginata. Maybe because it looks like pet grass? Got it because I thought it might be tall enough to be out of her reach, but she'll stand on the planter and nibble on it! * Peace lilies. She'll nibble on whole leaves! She's eaten so much of it in the 6 months or so that I've had it, it's now smaller than when I bought it :( Plants she hasn't touched yet: * Pachira Aquatica (I've had it for a few weeks/month now). I got a taller version (waist/stomach height), but some of its leaves are still low enough that she can reach, especially with her planter-standing method. However, so far I haven't seen any nibbles! Fingers crossed that she doesn't grow accustomed to its scent or something of the sort and becomes more curious! * Snake plant. I didn't realize this plant was toxic for cats, but thankfully it's always been housed in areas she can't frequent -- in a hard-to-reach spot of a kitchen counter/island (I had it surrounded by cookbooks and my coffee maker) or its current spot at the top of a bookshelf. They don't require loads of light, so it's easier to position these plants somewhere you can enjoy, but your cat can't. * Succulents. I've kept a couple in window sills year-round and she hasn't touched them. Although I don't recommend keeping succulents indoors unless you have super bright Southern sunlight or grow lights. I had an Echeveria Green Goddess that is etiolated slightly from my mostly Southern, slightly Eastern window. I think I'll stick with sedums/Graptopetalum Paraguayense (which I think still look attractive with their sliiiiight legginess) for indoors year-round.

I second the advice to get a soil test. It is relatively inexpensive, gives you a lot of information and comes back fairly quickly. You can get it through your U of A extension service, I think it is probably still up on Campbell. Until you do that, you're really feeling your way around in the dark. You should also let them know about your specific issues, there might be extra testing they can do for some common chemicals. Burning in and of itself should do no harm, only add to the alkalinity of the soil, but who knows what they used to suppress the fire...? No idea if that would affect it or no. Your soil will cake up if you are working wet clay, a big no-no. The mulch and compost is great for softening the soil and make it more moisture retentive, so checking it wouldn't be a big deal, and even then you can just scratch a little back. Mulching is *huge* in desert gardening, be it organic or even rock - anything to aid in cooling the roots, especially of non-desert plants of the type you're planting. I'm guessing you're saying that your soil is a mixture of sand and clay and not that you're mixing the two - that would = cement, and could be a part of the problem. Have you seen any of your plants growing well in your neighborhood? Also, longer term residents might be able to tell you if something happened on your site. But from your description, my best bet is that the holes that you're making in the caliche may not be sufficient to let the roots spread out; you might want to dig one of the dead plants out and see if it stretched out beyond the original root ball, or did they run into caliche immediately? You also want to test your drainage - caliche tends to form in sheets and if you had to get thru one, there is a good chance of another below it. Anywho, "they" now say that it's much more important to make a wider hole than a deep one, for the root spread problem precisely. BTW, I wouldn't waste my time asking folks at Lowe's for plant advice, although they put a few through some master gardener classes, few have the experience to do much more than scratch the surface of gardening. And steer manure... well.... unless it's really well composted, you're adding a lot of salt to an already salty soil. I saw an ad on Craig's list for horse manure today, you might think about that or the city of Tucson used to make compost out of their clippings and give it away. Hope this is helpful, best of luck to you!