WV, What else are you growing that requires commitment? My fall bearing raspberries (everbearers that I cut down each winter, so I only get a fall crop the next fall) require daily or every other day picking so the fruit is optimal quality. Each spring, as the new plants sprout, I thin them to 4 plants per square foot. I let my rows get two feet wide and that is the limit. Plants you pull up can be stripped and leaves dried for tea. Mulch and water well. I pick STBs first, and the BBs follow from mid-June thru Sept-and the various fall bearing rasp are next. These are integrated with various tree fruits plus currants and of course those delectable veggies. Since I usually pick BBs every 5-7 days, it is not impossible to attend to the other goodies. I raise and freeze most of our food, so efficient production is necessary for me. I have five or six different fall bearing rasp just now and am giving the Anne (the only yellow I have), another year to prove itself as to flavor. Some favorites are the Dinkum, Jacklyn, and Caroline. Made some sauce from a mix of these today for kringles and it was super delish. I do not have time to deal with the summer bearing rasp-though they are tasty. Of course, if you have lots of help, go for all! Enjoy. cella jane

I grow Dinkums here in zone 7 and they are treated not as ever bearing but as fall bearing. I cut them down to within inches of the ground over winter and let them grow back for a later crop. They will start to produce around the end of June and continue until frost in October. Have no information on the strawberry.

We have a patch of everbearing red raspberries, about 12 years old. I cut them all down to 10 inches in the fall, & mulch heavily with shredded maple leaves, to a depth of maybe 8 inches. Every year, a few canes zoom up, and begin to blossom in July. Heavy fruiting happens in August, and the patch continues to produce through mid-October. I don't know the variety. I can give no reason for why they are so vigorous.

I second the Bright Lights Swiss chard and most herbs. In particular, bronze fennel, Mexican tarragon, variegated sages, pineapple sage, lemongrass, salad burnet, parsley, rosemary, lavender, bay, society garlic (which is really an amaryllis), anise-hyssop, spilanthes. Some scented geraniums are really pretty, and you can cook with them or make tea. They won't make the winter in DFW, but you can grow them in pots, or grow it as an annual (they cut easily, for propagation purposes). There is roselle, which I haven't grown yet, that is a type of hibiscus. You use it for tea, and I think you can cook with it, too. Okra is very pretty, whether you eat it or not(related to hibiscus, mallow, and cotton). This year, I am going to try a burgundy okra- I bet it will be even more beautiful. I have Russian red kale and bull's blood beet(used for the reddish-purple leaves instead of the root)that is pretty right now. Artichoke and cardoon are very pretty, too. I am going to try purple beans this year, and some colorful pepper plants (orange, red, yellow, purple). The fish pepper is an heirloom hot pepper with variegated leaves(green and white) and peppers that change colors and have stripes. The habanero I grew last year had the most beautiful peppers I have ever seen- more red-orange and bigger than the puny ones you see at the grocery store! There are some beautifully colored and marked tomatoes out there. Several of the purple and black heirloom tomatoes are supposed to do well in Texas: Black Krim, Black prince, Cherokee purple, etc. Purple tomatillo is a really nice change from plain ol' green. Also going to try purple brussels sprouts, purple asparagus, purple artichoke, purple cayenne...I'm not a purple freak, but there are alot of purple veggies out there! If there's a weird color veggie, I want to grow it:). Romanesco broccoli has a beautiful spiral pattern to it's crowns, and there's, yes, purple broccoli and cauliflower! Serpent head garlics look really cool. Many beautiful lettuces and greens, such as tri-color amaranth (most amaranths look really pretty). Oh, and there's a ton of beautiful eggplants - whites with pink or purple stripes, green, orange, yellow. There's also alot of pretty corn, such as Rainbow sweet Inca corn and bloody butcher. There's a melon called Armenian melon that is picked young for use as a cucumber. I grew it last year, and it did very well in heat and drought. It's sometimes called serpent melon, too. There is one that is dark green with light green stripes called painted serpent. I'm growing that one this year. There are alot of pretty squashes and melons out there, too. Check out Baker Creek seeds. They have a blue-green squash I am going to try this year - Marina di Chioggia. Moon and Stars melon is pretty, with yellow splashes on the leaves and on the melons. Lots of pretty beans and other things, too. Don't forget edible flowers: dianthus, marigold, pansy, viola, roses, nasturtiums. Or sunflower, if you eat the seeds. Here is a link that might be useful: Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds