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Spring Gardening Tips
Peppers are easy to grow, and there are many different and colorful kinds that we can grow in Texas. From the small and fiery hot Chile Pequin, that is best used as a bird food, to the big and mild bell pepper, you should have no problem growing peppers in good garden soil with a little care. For cabbage loopers and hornworms, spray with BT (Bacillus Thuringiensis) or sprinkle dipel dust containing BT. You can use it up to the day of harvest and is approved for organic gardens.
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The first day of spring is coming soon and it's time to start gardening in earnest. You still have time to plant cool weather crops like broccoli, collards, and cabbage. Look for healthy plants on sale at local garden centers. You can begin to plant tomato and pepper plants, but be prepared to protect them if we get that last freeze. Look for varieties like Carnival, Merced, or Celebrity. Don't smoke cigarettes or chew tobacco around your new tomato plants as tobacco mosaic virus can spread from your hands after handling tobacco products. Try some small or medium type tomatoes this year like Roma that works well in a pot, or Sweet 100, which is a vine cherry type tomato. The large indeterminate kinds like Celebrity are bred for commercial growers and they have very specific needs like regular fertilizer and a constant and reliable source of water. A sporadic watering program, instead of a calcium deficiency, usually causes problems like blossom end rot that you see in the large tomatoes. Be sure to use drip tape or soaker hoses and mulch to keep a steady supply of moisture around your tomato plants. Tomato plants can be planted as deep as 80 percent of their stem length. However, it's better to plant them on their side, or horizontally, with the stem covered by a few inches of soil, rather than 8 inches deep. Roots will rapidly spread from the buried stem. Be sure to stake your large indeterminate tomato plants. Letting them sprawl over the ground is asking for fruit rot as well as a nasty bite from a copperhead or black widow while harvesting. Indeterminate plants tend to grow in an uncontrolled manner and set fruit over a longer period of time than the determinate or "bush" types that will also work well in a container. If you really want vine-ripened tomatoes, you have to grow them yourself or buy them from a local grower. 
