It’s a bummer that the plants are not productive as I was thinking of trying it next year.
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It’s mostly just apples, persimmons, and figs left at this point. This was my first year getting to taste Hoople’s Antique Gold. It had a lot of the russet flavor profile that I like, but it wasn’t quite as dense as other russets. Still very good though, and easy to grow. A keeper for sure.
I’m growing Tremletts Bitter (Geneva) for cider. I didn’t have enough to press this year so figured I’d just eat them instead. And while they’re definitely bitter and astringent and puckery, I kind of enjoyed them nonetheless.
This is an apple I started a few years back. I can’t remember the source, just that it was labeled Red Flesh. They were bad last year. And they’ve been just as bad but more scab prone this year. There are better red fleshed apples to grow here. This one’s getting the ax.
When I first got into the hobby, before I knew any better, I ordered three trees from Willis Orchards. The two persimmons died, but this “Bartlett Pear” has done fine. It makes lots of three inch tall fruits that are actually pretty good. Not sure what the unknown pear actually is though.
The one quince I have is Karp’s Sweet Quince and it came from Vintage Virginia Apples. They don’t list it anymore, but the description said something about it being sweeter than other quinces and good for fresh eating. It tasted like other quinces to me.
This second wave of Geneva Long Persimmons is ripening much better than the first few that I had.
Best figs of the week were Barnisotte and Jurupa.
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I’m a big fan of Muscat de Venus apples. These have been great this year. They’re sweet, crunchy, and have a definite lychee/grape flavor at the end. @tonyOmahaz5, if you don’t grow this one already, you should.
I got to taste the first my own hybrid persimmon seedlings. This one was pecked at, so ripened earlier, but was still very good. Size-wise, it wasn’t much bigger than Prok persimmons. I’ll have to monitor this tree for a few seasons to see how the fruit improves as the tree matures.
Tomatillos are still going strong
Here’s an unknown fig I’ve been watching for about four years now. It’s one of nearly 40 figs I’ve found in the Boston-area, and it’s the only fig I’ve seen that can be uncovered every winter and does not die back to the ground. Even the 50 or so “cold hardy” figs I’ve trailed in my own orchard die back to the ground every year. So I’m pretty excited about this one.
White Madeira #1 keeps pumping out winners.
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That Boston #12 seems like a winner! And how exciting to get a taste of your own hybrid persimmon!
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Wow, your Muscat de Venus ripened already. Nice to hear your endorsement.
My two Indian Free peaches fell a couple of days ago but I have not gotten around to eat them yet. Gave one away by accident this evening!!!
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I didn’t get any fruit off my tree this year unfortunately. But I’ll look forward to your report!
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Correction. Found the 2nd IF peach. Whew!! Will report.
I have so many peaches everywhere, inside and outside the house. We are making a peach pie right now. I prefer peach cake but got voted down 2:1 
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@SMC_zone6,
Finally, we got around to eat those two Idian Free peaches. This one in the pic was a larger one and dropped a few days later.
Both had some rot at the stem ends that went a bit inside. I think they got 1 or 2 Indar spray. I cleaned the damaged areas out. So I did not take the cut up pic. Flesh was white with some streak streaks esp. near the skin.
All 3 of us tasted it. All said the same thing “sour!!”. They may have other more admirable quality but we could not get passed the sour, tart, acidic taste it prominantly possessed. The skin was also tough. It was hrad to eat it with skin on.
Indian Free is not a peach for my family. We like more balanced taste or a sweeter side.
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Ha! That’s funny. I said the same thing when I first tried mine. But that’s why I liked it! I really enjoyed the mix of sweet, tart, and berry flavors all rolled up in a peach.
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We thought of you. My husband said to tell you it was “refreshing” 
We also think you would like it. I could not taste anything else after the tartness hit my taste buds.
Both had brix at 17 which was very high for a peach from my yard. Any peaches with brix at 15 is very good for us.
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Still harvesting. Here are the week’s highlights.
This is wild (I think) pawpaw I found near a river in my area. It’s at the edge of someone’s property line, so it could have been planted purposefully too. But I’m thinking no because it’s just me and the squirrels harvesting the fruit. The flavor is exactly like eating pineapple, but with the texture of custard.
Here are some cold hardy cactus fruits from the seven or so potted plants I have. These have survived outside and unprotected for the past few winters. I mostly just ignore them because the fruit isn’t what I’d hoped it would be and tiny thorns are super annoying. I really like the cactus pears I sometimes see at grocery stores, but there aren’t very similar at all.
My hybrid persimmon seedling is ripening more fruit. The 100-46 and Geneva Long are for size comparison. You can tell that the American persimmon genetics are mostly dominant in this one, but it does lose astringency early and completely, which is a plus.
Norella and Blanche de Deux Saisons produced the top figs of the week.
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Oh, man. Those figs and 'simmons look great!
I don’t know if it helps you much, but you can eat these small prickly pear fruits skin and all, once you take the spines off. On the upside, it drastically improves the seed-to-pulp ratio. On the downside, it dilutes the flavor of the center pulp.
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That’s an interesting idea’r of a cross. H-118 (x) (Honan Red x Rosseyanka). I don’t know why but that’s quite an idea, so, I agree!
Be aware that green pawpaws are poisonous/not good for you. That ‘Overleese’ looks way too green.
Great job!
Thank you so much!
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Winding it down.
This one wasn’t as star-shaped as I’d like, but Api Etoile is still a pretty tasty apple. It needs some time to mellow in the fridge though.
My first year harvesting Sung Hu. This is an astringent persimmon that looks like it would be non-astringent. The tree is dwarf, which is nice for keeping it protected, and produces a lot of fruit. The nice thing about this persimmon is how smooth the flesh is. It’s not at all stringy, like hachiya can be.
Sweet Joy was the best fig of the week – honey and maple flavored.
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This is my last update on this thread for the season. It was a pretty good year in the orchard. I got to taste a lot of fruits for the first time, and I got to see how a lot of fruits improved as they became more established. Some lessons learned and mistakes made. Drought and windfall. Looking forward to what next year brings.
A bucket of hybrid persimmons.
I’d ordered this “Suruga” persimmon a few years back from Martha’s Secrets since they were the only place I could find it. Bad call. These look more like Saijo to me.
Prok is excellent. Good size, top notch flavor, and good texture. I prefer hybrid persimmons more than either of their parents these days. But still, Prok is tough to beat.
The forecast has us getting a hard frost later this week, so here are my last few figs of the year.
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With temp predict at 33F on Thurs and 23 F on Fri, I will be busy strpping my Fuji and Gold Rush and will pick my Prok and Nikita’s Gift, too.
Not sure where I will keep all those apples.
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How close are your Nikita’s Gifts to being ripe?
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Lots of really nice fruit trees you have and great quality and varieties!
The pics look amazing, like a professional photographer.
Thanks for sharing with us
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Thanks for following along!
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