Congrats on the new yard! NO has a climate very similar to Galveston where I live. Plus there are some great nurseries in NO. Google your county extension office, you'll find a list of plants recommended by your area, growing tips, etc. Also you can usually find the master gardners there, ask questions, etc. Right now there isn't a lot you can plant but you can start getting your beds ready. In a few weeks you can plant your fall vegetables & herbs, winter squash, tomatoes, onions, cabbage, greens, etc. all do very well in fall gardens in our climate. There is a book called Gulf Coast Gardening, should be able to find a copy on Amazon, I think there is one on gardening in New Orleans that was published a few years back, if not there is one on gardening in Houston that will work for you. Visit the nurseries in your area and talk to the people working there, they are a great source of information-stick with the smaller individually owned nurseries as opposed to big box or chain stores. Have fun! oh, and look for books on sub-tropical gardening. Tally HO!

Yes you can use cardboard/newspaper between the plants, layer some organics, and then top with something visually appealing (chopped leaves, straw, leaf mould). In such a case personally I wouldn't make the layers too deep (3-4 inches). A brand new lasagne can be layered as deep as 10-12" but my experience is that if you plant right away in the bed the roots of the plants need to contact the soil to get a good hold. Organic layers compress as they decompose which can leave a plant high and dry. I don't think being a little low is a big problem (except perhaps plants that need excellent drainage). Try to mulch AFTER a good soaking rain or watering to conserve the moisture in the soil. Check out the Ruth Stout method of mulching - she mulched very deep and it wasn't a problem for her plants. Don't hesitate to use the Soil, compost, and mulch forum as a resource to search or post, probably would search first as they are zillions of posts on any given subject. That is a forum full of compost whackos. :)

LOL--I've been accused before! One neighbor, the one that draws disability for mental problems-told another neighbor that I was trying to get his wife to grow a garden!! Now, it's a joke out here, because I encouraged THAT couple, now her hubby is building garden beds like mine-and she is looking at seed catalogs.. the first gentleman actually said, on growing tomatoes-that if they grew, he would have to go outside and pick them--and that wasnt going to happen!! The only thing I havent done was grow so many zuccini that I slip around at night, and put them in cars....humm-there IS next year...

Hi, TigerDunes, Thank you for your response. I'm thrilled to see that we shouldn't be expecting a minimum of $10,000 to $15,000!!! I posted at close to 1:30 a.m. Pacific Time, and I just got home from work about 7:30 p.m. so I'm just now getting online, after 8:00 p.m. Yes, we're sort of thinking we'd replace the furnace only, keeping the outside AC condenser. We're not at all opposed to replacing the AC condenser, but it hasn't given us problems, so if it would be a huge increase in cost to replace it, we'd skip that, at least on this go-round. If it's not a huge increase in cost, we'd replace it along with the furnace. Yes, we'd want a unit that's tax credit qualified. I have no idea what size and efficiency we're replacing. I looked for the booklet/paperwork on it before I came upstairs, but I can't find it. Used to keep all of those things in a drawer in the kitchen, but I discovered tonight that my husband repurposed that drawer for wine accessories... and he cannot remember where he put all of the booklets/paperwork, although he states he didn't throw the stuff away. I do know that the existing units (furnace and AC) have been sufficient to keep the house nice and warm in the winter and nice and chilled in the summer. There are just the two of us living here, and we both work full time, Monday through Friday. The set-back thermostat is completely programmed, both for summer and winter. The appropriate unit is programmed to come on approximately 30 minutes before I get up (takes me longer to get ready in the morning than it takes my Hubs), to warm/cool the house as necessary, and then it goes off (well, maintains a colder-in-the-winter or warmer-in-the-summer temperature) about 30 minutes before we leave for work, until about 30 minutes before we get home when it comes on again to again make the interior comfortable. Then it will cycle on/off as necessary throughout the evening until about 11:30 p.m. when it again shuts off and only comes on if it gets way too cold (winter) or way too warm (summer) overnight. On weekends it's programmed to not come on until about 90 minutes later than during the week, and will maintain the "morning temperature" throughout the day and evening and then shut off at 11:30 p.m. As for "normal winter temperatures" here... gosh... OK, I just Googled "normal winter temperatures for Sacramento, California," and one of the results had this to say: "Sacramento, CA climate is warm during summer when temperatures tend to be in the 70's and cool during winter when temperatures tend to be in the 50's. The warmest month of the year is July with an average maximum temperature of 93.80 degrees Fahrenheit, while the coldest month of the year is December with an average minimum temperature of 40.40 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperature variations between night and day tend to be relatively big during summer with a difference that can reach 32 degrees Fahrenheit, and fairly limited during winter with an average difference of 16 degrees Fahrenheit. The annual average precipitation at Sacramento is 19.87 Inches. Winter months tend to be wetter than summer months. The wettest month of the year is January with an average rainfall of 4.18 Inches." Another site said this: "The climate for Sacramento is Mediterranean with mild winters and dry summers. There is usually low humidity in the area. Light rainfall usually falls between December and February. Sacramento average annual rainfall is 17.18 inches per year The average winter temperature is 53.5 degrees F. The average spring temperature is 64.0 degrees F. The average summer temperature is 88.0 degrees F. The average fall temperature is 72 degrees F." It can, and does, get above 100 degrees in July and/or August. Every winter we probably have one or two nights where it gets down to the low 30-degree range. But as long as the house is somewhere in the low to mid 70-degree range in the winter, and no more than mid 80-degree range in the summer, we'd be happy. Does any of that help?