Below is a link to Shirley's blog post. Thank you Shirley. It was great that you got to visit with Mike Shoup. I wished I had taken photos of the staff. Clyda is a real sweet heart. I took a picture of her among the satsuma oranges a couple of years ago. Once when Tammy went into the sales office to ask for a knife or a trowel she said "What in the world are y'all going to dig up!?!" and then she was kind enough to separate some vilmoriniana agaves in the pot we had just purchased so Patty and I could each take one home. Sweet memories all. Here is a link that might be useful: The Antique Rose Emporium - One Last Time

Welcome! A lot of good questions here. My number one best piece of advice for you is take a trip up to Austin and go visit the Natural Gardener nursery. Ask to talk to John Dromgoole (the owner), and just tell him that you are starting your first veggie garden and would love to hear any tips he might have. He is an amazing wealth of info, and he's a super nice guy. The nursery is worth an entire day trip, as there is a ton to see with multiple gardens. They even have a veggie display garden that you can learn a lot from. 1. Earthworms are always a good sign. I have one lasagna bed that I started in the fall/winter of 2012. In Spring of 2013, I topped it with about 4" of finished compost and planted it with peppers, zucchini, and beans, and everything grew pretty well. I think my results this year will be better though. It does take a little while to break down, and I think some of the nitrogen was tied up by the decomp process. your length of time to good results could vary, and it will greatly depend on the depth of the bed. If you can build up at least 9-12 inches with your layers, you should get results quickly. 2. Grubs are bad. Whenever I find them, I toss them onto the concrete for the birds to find. If you have the means, buy some beneficial nematodes to get the grubs under control. 3a) It's still pretty early in the season, at least it is up here in Dallas. I have not started my squash yet, and I ALWAYS start squash from seed. If your plant was root bound in the container, it could be suffering from transplant shock. The problem could also be from the weather, over watering, nutrient deficiency... lots of possibilities. A picture would help. Next time, try seed. Most of mine sprout in less than a week (some in 24-48 hours) and grow very quickly. Also, be on the lookout for the dreaded squash vine borer. They are not fun to deal with. Because of SVB, I almost exclusively plant Tatume squash now, which holds up better than most others. 3b) again, pictures will help. Are you noticing any bugs on your plants? Even little itty bitty tiny ones on the under sides of the leaves? Aphids can do a lot of damage... 3c) Pictures! It really does sound like you have a watering issue though... how often are you watering? 4) I use cages. Depending on which varieties you are growing, tomatoes get BIG and HEAVY. Mine tower over my 6 foot privacy fence by the end of the season. If your support system isn't strong enough and a bad storm or heavy wind comes through, your plants are gonners. those standard wimpy cages at most of the garden centers are typically good for peppers and eggplant, but not tomatoes. Do a youtube search for galvanized fence tomato cage. In the garden, you will quickly get over the creepy crawlies. It's a part of gardening life. Just wait till you encounter your first tomato hornworm. :) You will also need to quickly figure out how to differentiate between good bug and bad bug. Baby ladybugs look really scary, but you should NEVER EVER EVER kill them. They are your best defense against aphids. Baby lacewings also look really creepy, but they eat all those nasty whiteflies. 5. I'm not a peat moss fan. I know a lot of people use it, but there are some issues that you should be aware of. Peat is not a renewable resource, and once it dries out, it is difficult to re-wet, so it doesn't really maintain the moisture levels in our Texas summers. Better options (IMO) are coconut coir and expanded shale. However, I have gotten to a point where I don't use either in my beds. I now just use compost, decomposed granite, lava sand, green sand, dry molasses, and zeolite. Find a local dirt source that sells compost in bulk, and you will save a ton. I use Soil Building Systems in Dallas. There is a good raised bed mix on the dirtdoctor website. The only miracle grow product I ever use is their organic potting soil, and even that is a rare occasion. 6) Herbs do great here. Dill, fennel, parsley, and cilantro are cool season herbs that die back during the summer, but if you let them go to seed, they will come back. I think chamomile falls in this category as well. Basil is a summer herb that loves the heat, and it will die once the fall temps are regularly at or below 40. It is easy to root though, so just take a cutting in early fall to overwinter. Oregano, sage, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, and germander are all evergreen for me in Dallas, and they all do fine in full sun. Mint is one of those things that you have to be 100% sure that you want before you plant it. It will invade every bit of soil that it can, and it's very difficult to get rid of. It's best planted in pots, and not in your veggie beds. If the herbs have been in pots indoors, be sure to harden them off by slowly acclimating them to the outside temps and sun exposure. The best resources I can think of will be John Dromgoole (Natural Gardener), Howard Garrett (DirtDoctor), and you local county extension office and/or master gardener association. You can grow a ton of stuff in Texas. Just don't try to grow lettuce in the summer or tomatoes in the winter. Oh, and don't forget to plant stuff for the bees!!!! Take a look at the seed exchange forum too. You will frequently see posts by people looking to get rid of older seeds. You just have to send them postage. Last thing - be sure to remove any grass from the area BEFORE you fill your beds. If there is any Bermuda grass in the area, it will grow up through your beds and eventually take over.

Ive been fighting thrips on my blueberry bushes for 3 years now in South Houston. They reck shop on new growth late in the fall season and thats the growth that produces your flower buds for spring fruit. Ive been using spinosad for 3 years and try not to spray untill after harvest. They seem to peek in Aug and Sept in my area. Ive done alittle research on them and kaolin clay (surround) is suppost to be pretty effective on thrips plus it helps plants deal with heat which is a bonus in my area. I ordered some surround this spring and will start using it after harvest this year. Hopefully I wont have to spray spinosad anymore. I did notice after spraying spinosad it would knock them back for a couple weeks then seemed like they came back even stronger. It does kill beneficials as well. Dont believe every thing you read on those labels. The lady bugs and lace wings were no where to be found after spraying for months! Dont use it unless you have too. I believe it does more harm than good. A healthy population of lace wings and lady bugs I think can possibably keep there numbers in check but Im afraid they are here to stay. The only plants I dont see alot of damage on here from thrips are rabbiteye blueberries, okra and tomatoes. They do hit the rabbiteyes but not very much at all. Bellpepper, black berry, strawberry, Southern High Bush Blueberry all get attacked in a bad way.

Thanks tech biker. I know less about engines than I know about grass, which isn't too much, but your analogy makes sense. As well as the advice. As far as organic food choice compared to chemical, for me, I think its two reasons why I like it - 1. ease of use ; less chance of human error, over feeding, easier to apply and water in without chemical burn or cement discoloration (which I have a lot of visible mistakes lol) 2. safer for my family, pets, environment. My current goals are to keep it simple like you say. Adequate food, water, sunlight part I'm working on trimming trees. My father just got an extended chainsaw pole trimmer...we are going to share it. I'll be able to reach further up now to shape up all the trees. I"m mowing consistently at 1.0 inch height at approx every 3 or 4 days. I'm maintaining my equipment as best as I can. And I'm trying to be as healthy as I can. This last 2 months have been tough. I just applied texas tee tonight. I gave it a light soak in to keep the dust down. We just had a huge downpour saturday and then we are fried with 105 degree weather sunday and today. I'm still not pleased with a couple of yellowish areas..but I see some green forming. I'm guessing the recovery from my last human errors have just been taking a while to cure. I'll probably do another round of baby shampoo next time I water. Looking forward to posting some quality pictures soon. I do have some great looking areas though, carpet like. The sides of our house are still a no mans land riddled with weeds. They grow fast. I'm trying to keep it low. I really hate even cutting it. I feel like I'm contaminated my mowers just by cutting them, and that I'm spreading their guts everywhere infecting the rest of my yard! I'm guessing its 20/25 percent grass and 80 percent weed. Plus one side has I believe saint augustine growing thanks to the previous owner of the house next to us who planted it or something. I'm guessing winter might be the best time to start a weed attack and prevent regimen.