Dan, why is a non-native invasive necessarily not sustainable? I know that many knowledgable people are highly (perhaps voraciously) opposed to them, but I don't quite 'get' it. Is autumn olive eventually going to use up its habitat and disappear? Some presumably native shrubs and trees around here seem to compete well enough with it; AO has been in this area quite a few decades and it is present in somewhat limited habitats. In truth if the local population needed to get all of its vitamins from local fruit and etc there would not be far too much autumn olive and it would likely need encouraging rather than the opposite to ensure an abundant supply in the face of huge demand. An invasive that suddenly becomes a useful crop probably won't really be an invasive, will it? It will be getting a lot of attention and kept where it produces best and is easiest to get at. There are native species that colonize cleared forest faster than most if not all non-natives. Around here I don't think any shrub or tree can compete with short-leaf pine in a newly-cleared forest. Autumn olive competes for control of old fields and road-sides, both of which are convenient places for gathering berries.

thx brandon ... my point.. was ... if i had one [dont ever say that to your wife .. lol] ... is that when i look at the words... i see sandy LOAM ... basically ... and in my world.. warped as it is.. loam is the lifeblood of a good soil .... its basically the compost we are supposed to add.. to fortify our soils .... the link is a very simple definition of loam ... and i do understand it is a term of art for the soil scientist .... and below is a pic of a septic field dig 15 feet form the south of my property ... sorry.. i just dont SEE ... key word there ... humus .... [nor clay in my yard] ..... humus in my mind.. being the stuff that retains water in sand.. and offers some nutrients ... anyway ... it is interesting.. that one of the remarks is toward the everyones soils 'farmland capabilities' ... and i am enjoying comparing such.. to each of you that i know well enough to know your trials and tribulations .... in regard to trees/conifers... the real key is drainage .. and boy do i have that ... my soil probably defines why pines and quercus grow like weeds here .... ken ps: lets see.. member for near on 10 years ... thats 3650 days ... i guess i am am averaging under 2 posts a day ... lol .... i better get my act together and do more .... or!!! i should have posted each pic in an individual reply ... the GW system.. and i could have had 4 or 5 for this ... lol ... not the lack of any evidence of deep reaching roots ... though its hard to see in the pic.. the hole is about 2 or 3 feet from the trunk ... OMG.. look at the green giants back there in 2005 ... back behind the green pail ... one on each side.. 20 feet up the hill or so ... lol ... looking north here is the same row in 2009 ... looking east Here is a link that might be useful: i might have to go buy some chickpeas ... for some reason i am craving hummus

When I first started gardening, all those terms were a little unclear also. However, based on experience and lots of reading, this is what I have learned: a) full sun means that about 6-8 hours of sun is sufficient. Again, for some plants like veggies, more sun is better, but it doesn't have to be all day sun to thrive and produce well. For example, in your Texas growing conditions (OP), you are probably getting about 12-14 hours of sun if your yard were fully open to sun all day long. b) partial sun - means morning sun and afternoon shade, not filtered light in a mostly shady spot like I used to think c) plants that like shade -- some plants are supposed to do fine in shade or even want only shade, but other plants that can handle shade, if you give them just a bit of sun, either in morning or afternoon, and they do even better. an example is impatiens and purple queen. impatiens also did better with filtered sun than with just plain old shade like the label says that it can only do shade d) fuchsia - no matter what the label says, it can't grow in my area even in shade, so forget it every year when they show up in the nurseries

84. “"Build a house!" they said. "It'll be fun!" they said. Ha!” That was me. I may also have been the terrified one (21) AND the one driven to sleeplessness, migraines and an upset stomach (83.) They sure sound like me. It's still not fun. We still haven't started. I'm beginning to think I don't even want a lake house. For this amount of money, we could stay in hotels for weeks at a time, all over the world, for YEARS.