Onions 1-2 inches deep and 2 inches apart. Tom, at least 4 ft apart. Peppers 2 ft apart. Carrots, 1/4 inch deep, cover with a board till they sprout. Unless you plan to build cages for tomatoes, I would plant a determinate type like Rutgers.

I guess a tomato variety depends on your taste but I always do a few romas or san Marzanos...a few early girls, celebritys ..I like Porter or Porterhouse..maybe a big boy...I think I have some Homestead for this season too..and just for kickes I do some grape or tiny ones..I plant my onions really close...maybe an inch or two apart and then when I start harvesting, I do every other one to widen the space...

Why do you think you have had problems in the past? This is really important information as nobody can really do much to help you out without some idea of what went wrong in the past.

Given that you are from Texas you will probably want to prefer responses from those who deal with similar issues of heat, relative humidity and soil as you.

I have never gardened in Texas and it's a big state so difficult to generalize about, but many Texas gardeners tend to avoid the summer for gardening as it can get too hot and dry for many crops to do well. Some parts of Texas have very alkaline soils (pH 8.0 or above) and very alkaline water which causes nutrient uptake issues for most veggies unless the irrigation water is acidified (or the soil is acidified). One Texas gardener who had alkaline water and soil reported a huge turnaround by simply adding a little household vinegar to the irrigation water.

How well onions will grow depends on the type. If you are buying sets it is very unlikely you will know if they are long, short or day neutral types. This is really important as the short and long day types won't form a bulb until the hours of darkness are right. Plant the wrong type and no matter what you do you get small bulbs.

Carrots are a mostly cool season crop and to get them to be anything other than tasteless and woody in the heat requires mucho water and mulch in warmer soils. They also need a very loose soil to whatever depth they grow to or they misshape badly.

Peppers should love your climate, but tomatos often do suffer in temps above 90F or so. Primarily they have problems with pollination.

We can all try to help you have a great season, but really need a bit more info about why you think things didn't go well in the past. For growing in the soil, do you know your soil type (clay, silt, sand), it's pH or have you ever had a soil test?

I think I had trouble before because I was planting everything in containers. I don't think they were big enough for the plants. I tried growing jalepenos from seed but I don't remember what happened with them. When I tried growing tomatoes the plants grew ok and I'd get a few tomatoes but they didn't get any bigger than a grape and stayed green. I wanted to dig up some of the soil in my yard and mix it with some gardening soil and put it back in a raised bed. I don't know what type of soil I have :( If there are anymore questions I can answer to help you help me let me know :) and thank you!

paulc_gardener, I'm a little surprised by how much you space your tomatoes and peppers. I space most tomatoes at 2-1/2' and peppers only 1' apart. I am fortunate to have good soil tho.

Why don't you contact your most local Cooperative Extension off and do two things:

1. Ask if they do soil tests, and if they don't, who does? Get instructions for doing it properly, as you don't just scrape some soil off the top. A test usually runs around $8. The test results should give some recommendations on how to improve the soil.

2. Ask them what you can plant right now.

If they have a nearby office, you could go in and pick up brochures on different subjects and plants.

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: Cooperative Ext. offices in Texas

Paulc gardener: If by the "Rutgers Tomato" you are referring to the Ramapo then this tomato is indeterminate.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rutgers Tomato, aka Ramapo