Newbie, need all kinds of help

Hi, I'm Andi in Mobile, AL...68 yrs old, and a veteran of harvesting and preserving veggies in North Alabama. My hubby then was always the planter, and he had a green thumb. I'm trying my first veggie garden here in Mobile. It has been a HOT spring, so I got an early start on everything. I'm having some problems

Okra came up great and thick, so I thinned it and gave transplants to a friend. Now, the rest of the okra is dying/dead...something is eating the leaves, and I can't figure out what. A gardening expert from the local extension office looked at my picture of a tiny green/gold fly and said it's a "good guy" eating something. I hope she's right, because the same flies are on my peppers, which have holes in the leaves. I hate to use a chemical insecticide on the garden, as I know that will kill friendly bugs, too.

My Kentucky Wonder green beans came up healthy, now have rusty looking stuff on some of the leaves and some leaves are falling off. I think I also have a neighbor's dog eating on them, as the end plant looked squashed and leaves bitten off. No rabbits in Mobile.

Any other lower south gardeners here?

Hi AndiB, and

I'm a North Florida newbie to the Square Foot method. I'm shocked your extension agent couldn't give you more information from your picture! Even if you didn't catch the culprit on camera, looking at the damage seems to help a lot of the folks on this site. Can you post your pictures? If you're not sure how, see this post:
https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t129-how-to-post-a-picture-located-on-your-computer

The only help this newbie can offer is that there ARE organic insecticides available. Several types, actually. Also, if you see the telltale slime anywhere, putting a bowl of beer in your garden, sunk into the soil, will kill slugs.

Good luck!