Hi, thanks for your reply quirkyquercus! I have been spot treating with Weed B Gon Crabgrass Killer. It lists crabgrass and dallisgrass which seems quite similar to what I've got. Since weeds infested my whole lawn, it doesn't do any wonders but at least it seems to stop weeds from spreading where it's treated. I'm still looking for most effective way to deal with this sort of crawling weeds but I may be stuck with pulling by hands one by one for now :( Since I've got Bermuda and everyone told me that it's the tough grass, I will concentrate on thickening the existing grass while I try to keep the weeds at the minimum and hopefully it'd win over the weeds. I am still considering overseeding also and I heard there are fertilizer with crabgrass control which are made for newly seeded lawn (tuppersan/siduron based). That would save me from dilemma of overseeding VS fert w crabgrass control. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Well at least you live in Texas so freezing shouldn't be a problem for you. Welcome to the joys of ponding! Your research plan is good read lots plan before you build keeping budget in mind as some equipment can be pricey. In the US you have lots of online pond supply sources that we don't have here in Canada. I would recommend that you don't buy a pond kit for your pond. The pumps are never strong enough for circulating and running a waterfall. There are all kinds of calculations for pond volume, pipe fittings, pump size to circulate pond and waterfall which can be mind boggling. I like the aquaart site as they have good info on calculating these things for you. I started out with a submersible pump but they are energy hogs and I hated getting into the pond to pull the pump to clean it so now I run my pond on external pumps. They can be pricey but mine runs on 175W pumping 4300GPH 24/7 and cost me $350.00 including duty as shipped from the states. The submersible I had was 350.00, 333W and only pumped 1900GPH. If I was to redo my pond or build another one I would make sure I had a 8-10" coping shelf around the pond to hold down the liner and have the rocks just sitting at water level. I have that in some places but in most I have a plant shelf and had to stack rocks on the plant shelf then on top along the edge to hide the liner. The problem is that the rocks in the pond get full of crud and require alot of cleaning each spring. If you can afford it make your pond as big as you can, use the excavated dirt to make your waterfall and run your liner all the way from the top of the waterfall basin through the pond. That way you won't have leaks that frequently happen if you have a separate piece for the waterfall over the pond liner. Have fun! Patti

Coming to this thread a few days late, and NOT a market gardener. I used to go to farmers markets when I was in a Vegetable co-op (10 families contributing X dollars every 2 weeks, 2 moms go every 2 weeks to buy vegies for all, then distribute them back at home.). THE very best selling tool was a farmer w/ a sharp knife and a fresh fruit ready to be cut and sampled. I almost always bought! Even if I didn't buy, it was fun sampling the new tastes. Now tomatoes don't cut as easily as a crisp apple or a firm peach, but you could keep cut up samples w/ toothpicks in them on a paper plate nearby, maybe ontop of a plate of ice. Cover the plate with one of those cool screen things, look like an upside down colander, that keeps bugs off of picnic food. Someone on this forum months/yrs? ago suggested having printed recipes on how to use your "new" heirloom, or herb, or anything else you'll be selling. Make sure you have LOTS of recipes, and hand them out w/ each purchase! Occassional "free" ones could be available,too. Bake up some cookies, or muffins, or what have yous as samples of how the food will taste w/ your product in it. (always assuming baked goods given away are Legal at your market). I work 2 days a week in a nursery and we grow our own tomatoes. My work days don't usually coincide w/ seeding days, But, this past winter, I worked beside one of the men while he transplanted the baby seedlings. It was a sight to behold! We seeded in 500-800 cell trays, so natch, the babies are TIN=EEE! All of those babies went into six packs, 36 plants to a tray. He would fill up aprox 10 flats at a time w/ potting soil, go outside, water the dirt real well, bring them back in. Then he poked holes in each of the 36 cells, on each flat. Then he took a pencil or other sharp object, and poked the transplant out of it's 500 cell and into the prepared trays. He finished off each tray with another dousing of water (which I thought was too much), then on he went to the next group of 10 or so flats. He must have transplanted something like 5000 tomato seedlings in that one day! That's the only greenhouse we heat, and we kept it at 60 degrees for 1-3 weeks, til the weather warmed up and the plants were big enough to handle the unheated greenhouses. "Old Codgers" are our primary customers, some yuppies. The old codgers, in particular, gripe about everything. The plants are too young, too tall, too short, too yellow, too old, and of course, WAY too high in price. LOL! And, whether it was tomato, pepper, greens, cauliflower, cabbage, potato, onion, eggplant, herbs, or anything else edible, whatever we had, WAS NOT what THEY wanted! They always want what you don't have, then harumph a lot about your failings! I wonder about the sense in starting tomatoes in Feb in TX when they won't be weather or ground hardy til April sometime, or later (which is when they start looking too old, too yellow, etc...), but start them then is what we do. Obviously, you're probably not going to start 4000 + plants, yet! But you'll probably need to start WAY more than you have room for, and figure out lights or outside heating somehow, just to have enough for your four day event. And, if you want to hand out taste samples, obviously those tomatoes will have to have been seeded early enough to give you fruit on the event days. So, you'll have to do some serious sequential planting if you want fruit AND plants on selling days. Good luck--sorry this was so long. SusiQ in NE TX

Val, I received the package. I was delighted to see so many different varieties! I am very excited to start the plants indoors, and when it's warmer will sow some outside. Thanks so much!