I was hoping someone else would respond to prove me wrong but from what I researched last year almonds have two problems. One is the early blooming. The other problem is they do not like rainy weather. The fruit will split and rot.

I think you would have better luck with blueberries than almonds. I know of people that have made rabbiteye blueberries work in areas north of you. Most have them in pots that they bring into an unheated garage. I have heard of one person in Oklahoma that planted an almond tree. After 10 years of blooming without making a crop they had decided cut it down. The next year they put off cutting it down and it did make a crop. I think if you lived further southwest may be it would be possible. There is a reason nearly all the almonds are grown in the desert region of California and Arizona.

My two cents worth. Since you are new to gardening, stick to the things others have had success with in your area. Peaches, Plums, Pears, and apricots are all grown in your area. If you order from Legg Creek I would order the Rubrum plum. It is
suppose to have good disease resistance and good taste. Will need
another plum blooming at the same time for pollination. I have two but they have not made yet. Planted one last one and one this year.

I had an apricot in Paducah that made without any care. My neighbor in Haskell also had an apricot that made without spraying. I think peaches and plums would also be fairly easy with just a little spraying for fungus and worms. Might not even need to spray for a couple of years. Pears will grow without any assistance once established as long as it is fire blight resistant.

Grapes, blackberries, and strawberries have also been grown in your area. Figs should also do well as long as they have plenty of water and organic matter. Will need some protection when temperatures drop below 15 degrees, but that doesn't happen very often. The good thing about figs is if you ask nicely people will send cuttings of their figs for the cost of the postage. They are easy to start from cuttings. Persimmons should also grow as long as pH is 6.5 or below. There is now non astringent varies that can be eaten while still firm.

Yes, I do plant things that should not grow in my area. But I try to only plant one of those a year so if it does not make I will not get frustrated. Hate to go to all that work and nothing makes. One day you might want to try one of the cold hardy satsuma's that Texas A and M introduced. They are suppose to be able to take temperatures down to 10 to 15 degrees. Very expensive if ordered on line but would be worth trying. Bob Wells sells them and you can only order from a dealer in Texas since we are a quarantined state. I am sure the nursery's around Dallas will be selling them in the future. They just came out the last couple of years.

The book I refer to the most on fruit trees is Growing Fruits and Nuts in the South by William D Adams and Thomas R. Leroy. It is an older book but is written with the home gardener in mind. You can get it for under $10 on Amazon.

By the way, saw your picture of your garden on the other thread. Looks really nice. I enjoyed seeing the cedar post and mesquite in the background. I will stop rambling now. If you have any questions please just ask. It looks like you are doing a good job.

Thank you...guess I won't try almonds...I've never heard of anyone growing them around here. I am going to do plums, peaches and pears, blackberries and maybe blueberries.

Thank you for the compliments on my garden. It is doing really well. My pumpkins are about to bloom, the first corn I started as silk, a couple of the tomatoes have blooms and the southern black eyed peas are started to have pods. Once I got the cups around my seedlings I really haven't had too many other issues.

We've had 5"+ of rain in the last 48 hours and I think the everything has grown significantly since then. Here are some pics I took this a.m.

Your garden should grow like crazy over the next couple of weeks. A good year to have a fall garden. Nothing makes a garden grow like a good soaking rain.

Below is a picture on a sunshine blueberry grown in a 20 gallon syrup bucket.

Picture of trellis I used for my glenora grape.

How do you keep all those pots watered? Everything I ever tried to keep in a pot had to be watered daily and it is just too much effort :-)

I have bigger pots that are 15 to 25 gallons by volume. I can go 2 to 3 days between watering on the hottest days of summer. Tomatoes will quickly fill up a pot and do need daily watering. I have 30 trees and bushes planted in the 15 to 25 gallon containers, 14 in 5 gallon buckets and 17 plants in the ground. I hardly ever water the ones in the ground. The five gallon needs watering every day in hottest summer days, every other day or less the rest of the year. Takes about an hour to water everything including fertilizing. It makes for a good workout. The bigger the container the greater the margin of error. Never had a plant die in the bigger containers.