Life is a gamble and every action we take has some risk involved. Going to the store to buy your vegetables incurs the risk of being in an accident. Growing your own vegetables on a drainfield creates a possibility of bacterial or viral contamination and/or damage to the septic system. Here are some websites that say it's not a good idea to plant edible crops on drainfields. You will also find people who have done it with no adverse effects. The decision is yours. Weigh the odds and do what you think is right. As for me, I'd rather not eat anything grown on my septic drainfield and even though we are in the business, I wouldn't want to run the risk of causing a failure of the system for the sake of my vegetable garden. JMHO. http://www.unce.unr.edu/publications/files/ho/2007/fs0732.pdf http://extension.missouri.edu/xplor/qa/water0007.htm http://info.ag.uidaho.edu/Resources/PDFs/CIS1027.pdf http://www.nsfc.wvu.edu/smart/training/toolkit/page2/onsite/Guide_SepticSystemOwner.pdf http://www.phd1.idaho.gov/home/publicinfo/documents/CareandMaintenanceofSeptic.pdf http://www.wichita.gov/CityOffices/Environmental/WaterQuality/Septic_Systems.htm

How is it going? How soon after pulling out the weeds did you post? It might take a few days for pollinators to discover the flowers after you clear the space out. Also, you can hand-pollinate squashes -- often with better results than with bees. And I would do the other plants, too, in case it works on them ;).

Can't help you much with the fruit. I live a half-mile down the road from a berry farm so I let them do the growing! (They also sell pumpkins so I don't grow those either as I don't have the room). I also get other fruits from a local organic orchard. I do grow garlic. I have limited space - well, I have a large yard but limited SUN. So my go-to variety of garlic is called Chinese Pink, and I grow it mainly because it can be harvested by late May, early June, which frees up the space for my summer veggies. Last year I waited too long to order and Chinese Pink was sold out. And for the life of me I can neither remember what two varieties I ordered nor find the invoices for them. I think one of them was something like Western Rose. I know I had decided to try a softneck and a hardneck, but sorry, that's the best I can remember. Last season I discovered the beauty of onion sets! I have grown from seed before (copra is one onion I grew) but last year my friend's husband had extra sets left and gave them to me, and that is the only way for me now! But since they were given to me, I don't know what kind they are. Geez, I don't know why I bothered responding to you - I'm not much help here, am I?! Beans - I always grow Fortex; peas, I like Lincoln; cukes, I often grow Marketmore but like to mix things up; peppers, I like Jimmy Nardellos and Rocket. Herbs - I like (or I should say my husband the cook likes) Genovese basil, although I've grown the purple basil as well (and used it in bouquets!). I also grow the large flat-leaf parsley (Giant of Italy). Ditto on what nhbabs said about the cilantro - needs resowing all season. I also grow rosemary from seed but have yet to successfully overwinter indoors (I can't overwinter anything indoors!). Oregano grows very easily here - actually rip some out every year as it reseeds. And I've had success with thyme as well. Letuces - ah, you are talking to someone who loves lettuce, and who helped grow it at a farm. My all-time favorite is New Red Fire, a red leaf lettuce, but it seems to be a delicate lettuce. I try some every year anyway because I love it. Another red leaf option is Red Sails. Green leaf Black Seeded Simpson is an old standard, and Tropicana is a good variety. Red and green oakleaf are beautiful varieties, as is Lollo Rosso. Summercrisp (we grew a lot of Nevada) I believe holds up better during the heat of summer. A good bibb lettuce is Winter Density, and a nice, somewhat unusual heirloom is Deer Tongue. All lettuce prefers cool weather, and you will get smaller heads during the heat of summer. The woman I grew with was a lettuce magician, lol, and was the only person at the farmer's market who had lettuce in the dog days of summer! I don't quite have the touch that she did but I still try growing it all season long, and I do get some lettuce in the hot days. I also always like to try new things along with my old "stand-bys". I also usually grow some of Johnny's greenhouse mixes, which I cut as baby lettuces, and also some of the greens mixes, which I mix in with the baby lettuces. Yum. Now I can't wait for spring and a REAL salad!

I read your posts and admire your fortitude for toughing it out on your old homestead for as long as you did! You really could write a book! I am reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and it's inspiring me to want to try my hand at small-scale homesteading again. But I'm wondering if I need to move to a different state. I'm joking/not joking. I'm in the DFW area and I can barely get a vegetable garden to grow between pests and heat. My parents and siblings live in the Central Valley of CA and it seems like they stick plants in the ground, water, and they grow. Are you having better success with gardening in Gonzales?