jinman,
Thanks, I'll see if I can get some pics up. Oh trust me, I was very tempted to run down to the local big box store and buy a tiller on the spot, only lack of $$ kept me from it. Sadly from a digging perspective I'm just west of the coastal plain thus have heavy clay soils instead of the sand. Luckily it was pretty moist when I did my first dig so breaking ground wasn't super hard and the fact it was old horse pasture had really added a good deal of organic goo to the stew. However the horse traffic did pack it down a bit /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif.
Well, I was going by the books LOL, and they all listed around the first of Feb. for those cold weather crops so I did it. I probably did get lucky as we had a really mild winter this year, although most of those things can survive a pretty good frost and even snow. I'm thinking for next year I might buy some of those hoop houses since my beds are pretty small and start even earlier and see what happens. Is your part of Texas the more humid part or the more dry part? I also hope to plant some leeks and garlic this winter and let it over winter.
Yeah, I've got habaneros, serranos, jalapenos, and another one called Czechlosvakia Black, that I decided just to try. The habaneros are already set out, the others are still in the flats just coming up. I've also got 3 different sweet bell peppers, 1 red, 1 yellow, and 1 chocolate brown. We are hot pepper/fresh salsa fanatics. I've also got quite a few different tomatoes. In the garden right now I've got beefsteaks, 2 med. size hybrids, 2 grape/cherry sizes, a roma, and german johnson (big ones) and I've got some more roma seedlings I've started too.
Hey I actually tried the pepper spray, used a food processor and chopped up a couple jalapenos in water, let them sit for a while and added a drop of dish soap. I used it on the dang grasshopper nymphs that kept eating my potato leaves. It seemed to slow them, but then again I didn't spray as often as I should've.
Dang, black eyed peas was the one thing I didn't do this year I really wanted to, but this being my first year, I'll add another bed next year and have room for 'em. mmmm tasty. One of these days I'll have to make room for corn. All foods taste better fresh out of the garden, but there are certain ones where there is just no comparison to the stuff in the grocery store, corn, peas, green beans, & tomatoes are some of those. I tried some fresh peas out of the pod last night and its night and day compared to store bought, sugars break down too fast to last.
I wanted to share a bit about my garden because I saw a few people saying they didn't have enough space, (that and just plain old chest thumping /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif). You can fit a lot of good garden in even a small space if you are willing to work with hand tools and forego driving a tractor between the rows /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif. You can also use one of those little mini cultivators like jinman's got. I've heard good things about them for small or raised beds. You might not be able to fit the big squashes, melons, or corn, but you can sure get a lot of good peppers, tomatoes, onions, carrots, beans etc. There are a lot of good dwarf bush varieties too for those on a tight space budget. I actually have plenty of space, but just didn't have the means, desire, need, or tools for a big garden (yet). /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
So if you are stuck in one of those little city lots like I used to be, go out there and find you a little strip 3' wide x 8' long that gets plenty of sun and have some fun and you'll enjoy the good eatin' /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif. Plant some pretty flowers around the edges and you will not only get approval from the boss, but you will attract some of those good bugs that eat bad bugs and pollinate things. Then adding on next year will be a snap once the boss gets a taste for those garden goodies /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
