Thanks Jeff. In my yard I have 2 8x8 plots and 1 16x16 plot. At my school (I am a teacher), I have 1 30x30 plot. This one has drip irrigation.

Here is another photo of my yard. I added the last 8x8 yesterday.

Going back to night crawlers. I bought to plastic buckets last year and put them in three different beds that had regular topsoil and some other kind of garden soil I bought in them. All of this was over the clayish soil. I don't believe they survived, never saw them again and I used no herbicides or fertilizers on those beds.

One produced probably 5 or 6 quart size plastic bags of green beans.

I'll try to mix some sand in and see what happens.

Corn last year was a joke in the sandy part of the garden on the north end. It might have got to 3 feet tall if you tugged on the stalk a little bit.

Have you guys in the DFW area started planting tomatoes and peppers yet? I've seen at Sutherlands in Ft Worth that they have sets of 6 plants for $1.99. I think it's early but for that price I'll probably give it a shot.

Also, it is my mission this year to destroy vine borers and actually harvest some squashes!

you can start a couple hundred tomatoe and pepper plants for 1.99 if you start from seed...

Yeah, thank God I have absolutely no use for a couple hundred tomato plants! That would require entirely too much work.

Go for it . Keep a few plastic milk jugs around just in case.

Sutherlands in Ft Worth has some tomatoes right now. I think I remember seeing celebrity and a couple others that are of the very large tomato varieties. They also have squash and banana peppers. They all come in packs of 6 plants for $1.39. FYI

I'd like to announce that fire ant season has started. Got a nice double-handfull while moving a dead pear tree today.

Just fyi : vinegar or urine will stop the itch.

Awful quiet here . Nobody gardening this year ?

I just harvested my first batch of radishes.. Thank God any idiot could grow them!! Too bad I don't like to eat them!.

I have my garden in and have a 3 inch Banana Pepper currently trying to fatten up. I planted: peas, sweet and blackeye; corn; peppers; tomatoes; squash, yellow and zucchini; watermelons, Black Diamond, Charleston Gray and Moon and Stars; cantaloupes, Hale's Best and another variety; okra; cucumbers, lemon and burpless; and onions.

Try the white Daikon radishes.

I have been growing, for the first time, a couple serrano plants. No peppers yet. Does anyone have any tips for growing serranos or peppers in general? Thanks.

Peppers are a lot like tomatoes . Give 'em at least 6 hours of direct sun per day and when they look like they're starting to wilt, water them good and deep without getting the water on the plant leaves . Let the soil dry out ( not bone-dry) between waterings. IMO, the hotter the pepper , the hotter and wetter the environment for them. Jalapenos and bells can do well in cooler / drier temperatures but habaneros really thrive in hot and humid conditions. Serranos are somewhere in the middle.

Nope. I saw the doe I look for a long while back. No more freezes.

Also, like tomatoes, it doesn't hurt to spank the plants to help with production.

Yep, back at it again! Been in an out of the garden for a few weeks now. Got the tomatoes, squash and cukes in on time, green beans, sweet peas,and beets maybe a little late. No peppers yet. Pretty excited about the Homestead tomatoes I found this year. Used to plant them about 10 yrs. ago with good results.
Also making a trellis out of an old mattress box spring. Still have some spot welding to do on the project. S'gonna look pretty neat.
Good to be with you guys again!

also with the peppers...make sure they don't have competition from other plants and that they are spread at least 1/2 inch from each other (but probably no more than 1.5in. from the nearest pepper plant for better production, but don't spread them out too much in the open or they'll have to put too much into the stem for support and limit production.

My peppers have always done best when they look like a miniature pine forrest.

I must be an idiot! I love radishes but can't grow them for the life of me!

Let me understand this theory. You say to plant pepper plants .5 to 1.5 inches from each other? Everything I read says at least 12-18" and if they are too close they put too much energy into growing tall and less into producing? Are you eventually thinning these plants out?

Surely the poster meant .5 foot to 1.5 feet apart, not 1/2 an inch...I have never had any problems with massive production out of plants planted 18 inches apart. That is the distance that is best so that you can properly aerate the soil during the growing season.