Hey @Maureenrm
Thanks for posting. I’ll try to help you as much as I can.
Agreed that it’s thrips damage on the young basil leaves and the mature bug is thrips too.
Though there is a slim chance that the ‘‘eggs’’ you saw were pests, they most probably were fertilizer prills that looked like it, the fertilizer prills are round-shaped and a few millimeters big.
Resetting the garden can be one of the options and definitely the easiest in some way.
I’ll answer you more specifically in your other post thread.