Really. I understand trying to do things 'on the cheap' - believe me, I'm tight. But you don't want to do seedling fruits of these species. Seedling apples/pears will eventually become very big trees, unless you're prepared to do constant, diligent pruning - fine if you've got unlimited space, but the typical residential yard can't really accomodate more than one standard apple, and you'll be waiting 10, 12, 20 years for them to grow through their juvenile period before you ever find out if the fruits they will produce are tasty enough to eat. You'll be far better off choosing grafted specimens of varieties you like on a rootstock suitable for your site. A grafted/budded selection will bear fruit in less than half the time you'd be waiting for your seedling to begin fruiting - and you'll know what the fruits will be like beforehand. Pomegranates are easy to grow from seed, but typically, most seedling pomegranates do not produce top quality fruit. Better to purchase named-variety selections, propagated from cuttings. Most poms are zone 8(maybe 7) hardy - zone 6 is gonna be real iffy - but you might well succeed with some of the Russian selections, like Kazake and Salavatski. Cherries - I dunno. Hard to beat a budded/grafted variety like Montmorency, though I've seen some seedlings of that one that were pretty close, in fruit quality, to the original.

You might want to also enquire on the Australian forums as gardeners in inland Queensland and NT could have varieties to offer for your situation. If you have a few sunny areas available then a further option is to grow your edibles in containers (and that's a useful forum to visit, too) leaving your shady areas available for local plants or garden ornaments/amenities. With your clay soil - have you access to compost materials? I'm remembering that some of the major experiments with composting were done in India last century - with excellent results - and with those temperatures available you won't be having to wait out the winter for results, either!

Figs fit the bill. Most trees you find in the nurseries will be self-fruitful, do well in the ground or in containers, and fruit this year. For Houston, try Celeste, Kadota, Alma, or LSU Gold. LSU Purple is also a good variety, but the root growth may be a bit too vigorous for container culture. However, in the ground it will do well and is said to be RKN resistant. ~james

Many of you in coastal Southern California may have tried growing apple, pear, or stone fruit trees and found they did not grow well. I have found a technique that may be very helpful. If you are having trouble growing apple or stone fruit in Southern California, putting a tarp over it to give it partial shade can really help. The best time to cover it is from late December to January, and also from June to September. In the Winter the shade helps allow the tree to fully go into dormancy, because even just a few Winter warm days can really detract from the amount of effective chill hours the plant accumulates. It is not only temperature, I believe the light level itself plays a role, the tree can still sense light intensity even if it has no leaves. Come Spring, the tree will began leafing out much more vigorously and sooner if it got an adequate chill accumulation. Summers in Southern California are notoriously hot and dry. In many other parts of the country it is Winter that is the most difficult time for plants to grow, but in Southern California it is the Summer that is the most difficult season for plants to grow. With the clearer skies, higher temperatures, dry air, and lack of rainfall, the leaves of many plant varieties can get scorched. Consistent watering during this time is important, of course, but the plant is still going to have a challenging time coping in these conditions. This happens to be the reason that deciduous trees typically do not grow as well on the West Coast, by the way. Because Winter is the time of year that all the water falls, so the plants best adapted to the region will still have their leaves in the Winter. Having a little bit of shade can really help deciduous trees grow in this climate. Many of these trees supposedly "need full sun", but what you have to realize is that what applies in other climates is not necessarily going to apply in Southern California or the Southwest. Southern California tends to have a lot of sun. At least in Florida there is plenty of the humidity so the plant's leaves are less likely to become dried out. I have observed that it is better for the plant to have a little less sunlight than optimal than it is for the plant's leaves to get more sunlight exposure in a hot dry climate, this essentially has the effect of baking the leaves and they turn brown. You can also try to plant the tree in an area where it will mostly only receive morning sun. I have been able to grow Lilac and even a Lingonberry bush this way, south of Los Angeles (and yes, they flower and fruit!). For deciduous fruit trees that need more chill, you can plant on a north-facing wall. Come the Winter season, the trees will be very shaded.