Cayenne and Jalapeños are the only peppers I am growing at the moment, I have 28 chilli plants and limited space, I also have some basil, mint and chives growing in the windowsill. The basil does very, very well, the mint is grown from seed and is doing quite well and the chives look rubbish so far! The seeds for the chillies were from a general store and they were the only chilli varieties they had, I'm thinking of growing some more varieties next year, some NuMex Twilight perhaps along with what I can get my hands on in January and takes my fancy.

Diatomaceous Earth DE is a harmless substance which works by physical means to kill and repel pests. While the word Pesticide sounds bad, a pesticide can be as simple as a concoction of soapy water. "A pesticide is any substance used to kill, repel, or control certain forms of plant or animal life that are considered to be pests." DE is not a systemic treatment and is not absorbed by the plants. DE is harmless to humans. It is frequently given in farm animal feed for deworming. Can be used on carpets for fleas, beds for bed bugs, pets for fleas, and consumed via liquid for human deworming/and health benefits. You do want to avoid breathing it in, as the microscopic particles can damage lung tissue, but simply don't create a dust cloud and breath it in. Think of it as a fine powder that while harmless to humans, it cuts up the exoskeleton on an insect and they die. I use it all the time via a duster when I have pest issues on my veggie garden. It is just about the safest thing to use, right along with soapy water. It is not absorbed by plants and rinses away easily with water. I usually dust my veggies and let water and rain rinse off the dust over a day or two. Yes it will kill beneficial bugs, but it will be rinsed off quickly and provides little long-term impact.

Research biocontrol and Integrated Pest Management(IPM). For most pests, I prefer to let the good bugs battle with me. There is no way you can do that using something that says "kills 140 pests" on the side of the bag. Yeah, 140 bad guys and all the good guys too! Many fungal issues are another story and opposite of the whole identify first idea. But not really. For example, I get powdery mildew every year on my cucurbits(cukes, melons, squashes).. As a beginner, i had no idea what it was...then I identified. After a couple more years trying to treat the symptoms without much success, i found out that you have to treat it BEFORE symptoms show.to control it. Made things much easier...every year now, I treat them from the time I transplant. For PM, I prefer to use a couple natural solutions... potassium bicarbonate, milk, neem oil, sulfur. That natria stuff isn't bad...just the pyrethrins are a tad broad. still considered organic though, I think. Kevin

This is what I did last year and it worked well: -Bought some 14inch tall and 4x8 ft raised beds in wood. Filled them with store bought soil mixed with some of the compact clay from the garden. -Sowed tomatoes, peppers, melons and cucumbers (heat-tolerant species) inside in January. -Sowed Basil, Zinnia, Amaranthus and Nicotiana in February. -Direct sowed beans, salad, peas. -Bought some herbs which I planted out directly. -Planted out most of it in the middle of March. -Vegetables, tomatoes, and cucumbers got harvested. Most of it died in July. (Except a tomato specie called "Matts wild cherry tomato" which was very heat tolerant (but also quite unstoppable,weedy, overwhelming plants and self seed wildly!). -The peppers did I actually harvest until Christmas (had to plant them in a flowerbed- ran out of space). -I will full heartedly recommend Zinnia for the Texas gardens. They was a blast ! Flowered along time. I haven't seen the SVBs, and they sounds like a really serious treat. Though I haven't actually Zucchini, but three types melon and cucumbers. Sounds like a terrible pest. -I bought some plants too. Find a good garden center and use some dollars on something exciting. Lots of fun with a small investment. I bought a Passionfruit Plant. Its a tad invasive, but I've got loads of Passion Fruits this fall and winter. Very healthy and very excotic for a Scandinavian like me. -Good Luck! I write about my garden in Houston here.