There are many places selling them. Edible Landscaping, Raintree, One Green World, Tripple Brook Farms, plus others. In zone 7 you may be able to grow the deliciosa (fuzzy) kiwis, along with the arguta (hardy) ones. Make sure to get a male and female vine. Scott

Back to your original question to what might be earlier than Methley. Here in mid Georgia Goldcrest, Flavorich, Regal, Camden, Queencrest, Maycrest, Springold, Springcrest, Springprince, Empress, Sunbrite, Carored, Suzi-Q, PF-1, Starlite all would ripen before the 25th of May every year for me at my location while Scarlet Pearl, Junegold, Glodprince, Derby, and Correll will be within a few of both sides of the 25th of May. All these varieties have 650-850 chill hour requirements. All are clingstones with generally smaller size than later varieties, and some would say not as good of a taste. They tend to be more tart than sweet to me than later on the season. Your ripening dates will vary from mine I'm sure, but if you are picking Methley on the 27th of May we are not too far apart. In my personal opinion Flavorich, Springcrest, Sunbrite, and Scarlet Pearl are the best out of these because of taste and size compared to the other ones in this group. You might look at the Dave Wilson website for some of the newer California early varieties which I didn't list which may be of interest to you. Hope this helps. Russell

I agree totally. I am on Long Island, and the temps here can get quite cold for long periods of time as well. Just down the Road from me (and am sure at my location as well) Temps have dropped into negaqtive double digits quite a few times in the past, cold enough for only Trifoliate Orange. Officially even that species is overtaxed by the record -23 below. Somehow the US government listed my section of Long Island as 7a :). But I digress. You are in 7b, but that is still cold enough to make most Citrus and related unsuitable for your region without protection, even Fortunella would have a hard time. I would reccomend once again temporary shelter. Maybe not designed as MtTexas has done, but something very similar. Actually I was thinking about the problem and think you could make something fairly modular & easy to erect. I don't think it would look to bad having it covered up for the cold months of Nov-Mar. Anyway I am writing up a small simple design which may help make it a bit easier to cover things up during the winter. I will post it shortly. VTY -Mark

Any chance you can solarize without causing too much trouble? 3" of compost would probably be enough to get started, especially if you can solarize first, and then till in the compost. Top that with 2" of hardwood mulch, and you're golden. Also, start going to Starbucks and ask them to collect the used grounds for you. They'll give it to you free. Sometimes I'm able to get about 40 lbs from a single trip to the store up the street. If there is a composting facility near you, you might be able to get free compost or free mulch. The city of Allen has a free compost program. The only problem is that you might end up with undesirable results. My front yard in those pics is nothing more than Texas clay with 2" of compost and coffee grounds on top, with 1.5" of mulch on top of that. Also be careful along your foundation. Typically you want to maintain the mulch line at or below 3" from the top of the foundation to prevent termites. I tend to go a little higher - 1.5-2" from the top of the foundation, but our entire property has a 10 year termite warranty. Here is a link that might be useful: Solarize your grass