Eventually the ladybugs will show up. The ones you buy seldom stay around long enough to eat or lay eggs.

To wash them off veggies after harvest, put a tiny amount of dish soap or plain baby shampoo into a sinkful of cold water and slosh them around a bit, then drain and rinse. They all detach and can be easily rinsed off.

Bakers Nursery had them a couple weeks ago - 2000 for $9. I bought some, and took every precaution to have them not fly away. I had a large aphid problem on my beets. I released them at night, sprayed down the garden so that they had something to drink and then covered the my beets with frost cover for 2 days. They definitely ate a lot of aphids but eventually did fly away after about 5 days. I still see some hanging around now (2+ weeks later) and I've seen a couple larvae munching away so that's a good sign! I've noticed though, that the parasitic wasps have been extremely effective....and those came naturally about 1 week after my aphid problem started.

I was at both Summerwinds Nursery on W Bell Rd and Elgin Nursery on McDowell Rd around 80th Ave this week and both had Lady Bugs in small tubs, I think there were 1500+ per container for $7.99 each.

yay, I got a bunch of ladybugs. Let's hope they take care of the nasty aphids.
I HAVE seen them eating aphids so it is working, I just hope they don't all fly away.
In the summer I had a major aphid problem with my Okra. It would be nice for them to stick around long enough to deal with that. I hate hate aphids.

Found aphids on my habanero transplants yesterday ...

sprayed with a mix:

apple cider vinegar
mashed jalapenos (blender on mutilate)
hot water

let mix steep for several days, then spray away ... first application took a couple hours and checked on the aphids, some were gonners, but others were enjoying their shower and pools like it was a resort ... ugh ...

Very humorous article written by Eric Ronning has a few tips:

Here is a link that might be useful: How to Get Rid of Aphids