Wow, sandy soil gave you some chance of surviving constant rain. Too bad that didn't work out, but it's great that you're still eager to try.
Maybe a raised bed and sandy soil would give them SUCH fast drainage that not even a monsoon could drown their roots. Or have some hoops in place over the bed so you can give them a rain umbrella if you want. (But the soil UNDER the bed will still be flooded if the water table rises.)
In some parts of Texas, your winters might be pretty warm. But I would still expect it to be easier to get something to grow in cold weather if it was under at least a floating row cover of some non-woven modern fabric, or, better, plastic film stretched over hoops and then sealed to the ground with dirt on top of the draped plastic, or 2x4s holding them tightly against the ground (to keep heat in).
If you start doing that, however, watch out for a sunny day cooking everything under the plastic!
On cold days and at night you need to seal the plastic to keep heat in.
On sunny days, you need big vents to prevent "steam heat".
One thing that many people neglect when choosing crops: grow what you like to eat!
Home-grown will taste better than anything from a supermarket produce section, but you have to like it, to start with, for it to be worth growing.
If you can find a chat thread in the Texas regional forum discussing "what are you growing right now?", that would be a good thread to eavesdrop on or ask focused questions about specific crops or problems.
Texas Forum:
http://garden.org/forums/view/...
I don't see many threads like that right now, so you might have to start one, like "Sowing Times in the Houston Area". It would be smart to show your familiarity with the Goodies / Garden Calendar as a starting point, when asking for more advice.
For example, "I was thinking of starting these (A, B, C) indoors 2 weeks before my average first frost, what do you think? Is Houston summer heat likely to cook them before they're mature?" Or "I wanted to grow D, but last year they all drowned."
Someone there should know the "special situations" for your region, like "In TEXAS, those will need afternoon shade June through August". Or the amazingly weird rule that you can grow tomatoes in the SPRING or FALL, but not mid-summer.
