You might look into some of these types. I'm not 100% certain of what zone you are in, but I would think that most of these would work in your zone. I believe that all of these are mid to late season bloomers. This is a really great book if you are considering apple varieties to grow ---- The Best Apples to Buy and Grow, B. Hanson, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Inc. (2005) Varieties With Reputations As The BEST Tasting Gala Crisp, dense, aromatic flesh. Excellent quality. Stores well. Large, vigorous tree. Requires about 140-160 days from bloom to harvest. Requires at least 600 hours of chilling. Fuji A yellow-green skin with orange to red stripes. Crisp, juicy, white flesh with good texture. Requires about 140-160 days from bloom to harvest. Ripens mid-summer. Stores well. Susceptible to Bitter rot and red mites. Heat resistant. Requires 400-600 hours of chilling. Granny Smith - Medium to large, waxy, grassy-green fruit. Firm and bruise resistant. Hardy, crisp, juicy, white flesh. Fairly sweet with a somewhat tart taste. Excellent quality eating and cooking apple. Keeps good texture during baking, never gets mushy. Excellent shelf life. Self-fertile. Requires about 170-210 days from bloom to harvest. Holds well in heat. Requires about 500-600 hours of chilling. Hardy in zones 5-8. Braeburn Red, highly flavored with an even sugar to acid balance. Mutsu (Crispin) Large, round, yellow fruit. Crunchier flesh; more juice and tartness. Distinctive, delicate, spicy flavor. Good dessert and processing apple. Excellent for applesauce and cider. Resistant to powdery mildew. Susceptible to scab, blister spot, and bitter rot. Requires 500-600 hours of chilling. Hardy in zones 4-8. Honeycrisp Pink Lady(Cripps Pink) Cross between Golden Delicious and Lady Williams from the Western Australian apple-breeding program. Oblong, green fruit turns yellow at maturity and is overlaid with pink or light red. Fine-grained, white flesh. Thin skin, bruises easily. Chilling requirements similar to Granny Smith (500-600) Ashmead's Kernel A juicy, aromatic apple with a sharp flavor that is both acidic and sweet. It is believed that several weeks of storage enhance its flavor giving its high acid content time to balance with the sugars. Skin is orange or reddish bronze with golden brown russetting. William's Pride This variety is reputed to have unusually good flavor for an early summer apple. The flesh is granular, crisp and mildly acidic. It is resistant to fire blight and powdery mildew and immune to scab and cedar apple rust. Goldrush This variety has a spicy flavor of intense acidity and high sugar content. It is a yellow green fruit with light russetting, sometimes having an orange blush on the sunward side. It may keep for six months or more. It is immune to apple scab and somewhat resistant to fire blight and powdery mildew. Calville Blanc D'Hiver Known for having a tart and rich taste described as effervescent. It often tastes better after storage. It has pale green skin that develops an orange color with light red dots where exposed to the sun. It can be susceptible to scab and powdery mildew. Rubinette An offspring of Cox Orange Pippen. A very good sweet and sharp balance of taste. It can be susceptible to scab and powdery mildew. The following three varieties are reputed to have fantastic taste. They are not as hardy though and may be more susceptible to disease: Newtown Pippin: This apple is firm, crisp, juicy, and moderately acidic with a fresh taste. Loved by Thomas Jefferson and was a prized export to England from the United States in the 1800s. It is green in color becoming yellow to greenish-yellow with a reddish blush. It stores well. The tree is susceptible to scab and powdery mildew. Cox Orange Pippin: It has a crisp texture and a richly aromatic and semi-tart flavor. It became the most popular apple in England and dates back to the early 1800s. The skin has an orange red blush on a light yellow background. It is susceptible to scab. Esopus Spitzenberg: This variety is rich, juicy, and more tart than sweet. Known as another one of Thomas Jefferson's favorite apples -- along with a lot of other people. Often ranks at the top of taste tests. The skin is red with speckles of yellow. This variety is susceptible to scab, mildew and canker. Here is a link that might be useful: dallasfruitgrower

Celeste makes the best fig preserves. At one time there were many orchards of that variety which were used to support a canning industry in Louisiana. In Texas, Brunswick (AKA Magnolia) is the fig of choice for making preserves. Brunswick figs need to be picked before they are fully ripe in order for them to hold together properly for a good preserve. In California they use the variety known as Kadota. Years ago, Dr. O'Rourke at LSU bred a mother Celeste fig tree with a male capri fig in an attempt to produce a better fig for the fig canning industry that was in Louisiana. His LSU Improved Celeste fig turned out to be a much better fig for making fig preserves than the old Celeste strain. Unfortunately a true LSU Improved Celeste is very hard to find as it is often confused with the O'Rourke variety that is sold at some nurseries. The O'Rourke fig too came out of the LSU fig breeding program. LSU Improved Celeste and O'Rourke are two completely different figs and the names are definitely not interchangeable as many people believe. Both are excellent figs. However, the edge goes to LSU Improved Celeste for fresh eating and making excellent preserves.

Thanks for your reply, donn...! 3 feet or so?

Thank you both for your attentive answer to my inquiry. I don't have too much issue with the SVB. They usually destroy my first crop of zucchini right around the time I get tired of picking 5 or 6 new squash every 2 or 3 days... I just pull the plants and start new ones in their spots and by the time I am missing having zucchini, they are back in business again! They also usually take out my pumpkins (regardless of the type) before I get more than 1 (sometimes 2) nice pumpkins from the vine. It's sad, and unfortunate but I don't really mind. I might have to stick with moschata types though, since I was able to harvest 4 nice sized butternuts without any attention being given to them last summer (lots of traveling, little time for gardening). As far as the ability to get creative with my plants... The area I grow them in my tiny little yard is right next to the south side of my house. It is the farthest corner of my yard from my backdoor, and it is very warm there - reflection off the WHITE exterior of my wall certainly helps, I think. Anyway, this area is about 9 feet wide by 12 feet long. I put a bed in there, shaped like an "E". The Backbone of the "E" runs along the side of my house and is 12 feet long. The backbone is about 3 feet wide. Then the "spokes" coming off the E are each about 4 feet long and about 2.5 feet wide. This gives me just enough space to be able to access each area via a walkway. Two of the spokes have 7 foot trellises "permanently" in place. The trellises are 10 feet long 4x4's from recycled wooden pallets, with a cross brace and nylon garden netting for the vines to grow up. Last year this space was used for onions (the base of the E - no trellis), a cheyenne bush pumpkin (I got one nice sized pumpkin from it) and two butternut squash plants. The area got completely overgrown with weeds, as I was unable to really get in there to tend it given my schedule this past summer, but I still got 4 nice sized butternuts out of it. No weeding, no watering, etc. I just went back there to harvest when the time was right. So, creativity wise, I think I have it covered (although I'd be interested to hear other suggestions). I have another area I "could" run the vines if necessary, but that area has been decided will become a "naturalized" flower bed for my wife. The bed will kind of hide the squash vines running up and over the trellising from the street view. So, I don't want to actually have the plants running on the ground in there... kind of defeats the purpose.