Book Report: Gardening Success with Difficult Soils

I just bought this book at Half-Price by Scott Ogden which is basically about my calcareous, alkaline soil. I feel lucky I was sitting in a chair and this was exactly eye level (a trick the grocery stores use to make you purchase things). I adore it when a book basically says what I am doing it right, but also adds new information. This book was in the general gardening section and though it says it is for various places it might as well say central Texas in the title, since it mentions Texas a lot. Even though this book does list the evil ligustrum as a possible plant, it also lists many of my other plants as well that I like and have already planted which are not invasive. 

Besides I'm starting to have a new view of invasives which is that if you prune them well they are not that much of a problem. Luckily, I like to prune stuff, it is one of my favorite gardening activities.

I've been contemplating fruit trees in the back of my mind lately. I've been in a quandary regarding ornamentals versus edibles in my landscaping. Edibles seem to take so much extra care and I know myself well enough to know I'm not sure I feel like it. Though, I am coming to understand that it depends on how much one cares about having a big harvest. I like variety and am just happy when something doesn't die. Well, in this new book there is a list of fruit trees that do well in my soil without a lot of extra amendment and work beyond pruning.  I also found this nursery online that talks about high density planting. I can plant up to 12 trees and 3 espaliered trees in the space I was considering for fruit trees using this method. I just need to plant them all at the same time and prune them a lot the first 3 years. I will also if I do this well be able to keep them below 12 feet in height for manageability.

My list from the book: 

Methley & Santa Rosa Plum  

Celeste, Alma, Brown Turkey, Texas Everbearing, White Everbearing Fig

Fuyu Persimmons

Jujube

Pomegranate

Guava

Ayers, Leconte, Shiseki, Hosui, Monterray, and if possible a Korean Pear variety

I also considering other fruit mentioned in the book now like

Rosborough, Navaho, Black Satin Blackberies

Austin Dewberries

Verdelet, Roucaneuf  Grapes

Triumph, Welder, Carlos, Magnolia Muscadines 

The book is from 1992. I need to check for a more recent edition. Maybe it would mention kiwi which I am considering, but can't figure out where to put nor how to build something strong enough for it to grow on. I want pineapple kiwi which is a hardy variety (means you can eat the skin 'cause it has no hair). There also seems to be every growing amount of new plants that have been adapted to central Texas or have cachet now that people are moving toward native plants in the last few years. Still this is a fabulous resource. Hopefully, I will eventually purchase all the books on my like list, but right now I'm mostly checking stuff out from my local library.