Karen
My yard, the actual area where I can plant is small. I planted a few fruit trees in the front yard, a few more on both sides of the house and several more in the back.
As for watermelons, they are where they can get most sun. 3 plants are right on the front yard by the side walk. My friend asked if I am concerned someone will steal those watermelons.
Aside from my neighbors, a few people who walk by are dog walkers. Those watermelons weighed 35-40 lbs. To hold a dog leash and carry those melons with them would be quite challenging. Luckily, so far, no one has tried.
What I know about growing watermelons, I have learned from growers here with special thanks to @thecityman for all the advice esp. varieties to grow.
My 3 varieties ripened at the same time this year. The color is a bit off because they were in Clemson bags. I minimized spraying by bagging them. It is a big pain but it helps with low spray, avoid bird pecking, and yellow jacket stinging, etc.
Bagging does not stop any rodents from stealing your fruit.
They ripened on the tree by the time I saw them. The one I cut open had bruises at the stem end. I thought it would suffer internal rot, too, but it did not. Seeds were dark, fully ripened.
Brix was 19 (I checked twice), which was quite high for pears. I was surprised that it was not as sweet as the brix stated. It tasted sharper than sweet. Texture had no grit but firm, not as melting as Harrow Sweet at the ripened stage.
@clarkinks , @Auburn , another Harrow pear series that could interest you.
My late peach is Autumn Star. Thanks to very dry summer, the fruit are mostly clean. They don’t split in heavy rain after a long dry period. That is a plus.
Prok persimmon from a potted tree. Fully ripe, no astringency but tasted mild.
The tree looked unhappy in pot with wilted leaves since the beginning of the summer. I have watered it more frequently. Appeared to negatively affected the taste.
Very impressive fruit crop this year! Clara frijs is a high quality pear i agree. Likely one everyone should grow but i found out this year it can get fireblight. Clara Frijs Pear
Although mine soaked up water with recent rain, it still had brix at 19. Had it been no rain, brix over 20 would not surprise me. Free stone is a plus, too.
I personally think it was too sweet but better sweet than sour, to me. I prefer Freckle Face as the taste is more balanced.
If you get the brix up to 22-25 range, there will be a lot more flavor elements than sweetness, specially as the tree matures. I look forward to trying Freckle Face, but in any case, it ripens 2-3 weeks before Zephyr, so there is not really competition between them…
I finally can say with confidence that I prefer pluots over J plums. Tree-ripened pluots taste better, sweeter and with firmer texture.
These past few years, I’ve tried a few pluots, Spring Satin (productive, very nice texture and taste), Flavor King (let ripened too long), Dapple Dandy (ate them at various ripening stages, nice but not at peak), Honey Punch (like SS, wonderful).
My last Dapple Dandy finally dropped. It ripened very late.
