Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2008 08:39:49 -0500 (EST)
From: Kira Dirlik
Subject: Figs
Just in case the person asking about the figs feels intimidated, I could add my two cents. I had a fig tree (small figs… celeste?) when I lived in Durham. It was already there when I came in 1971 and was still thriving when I moved to Chatham in 1995. I never did anything to it, but found that its aggressive roots invaded my veggie garden every year which was adjacent to it. Very hard to til the garden and get them all out… tangled mass of small top roots.
In a year with a week of below zero weather (remember those?) it appeared to have died, so I cut it back, and it grew very fast again from the stumps that were left. I discovered later that if it appears dead, it isn’t, and the branches will just leaf out later than usual.
Here in PBO I have what I think is a brown turkey. The figs are nearly as big as pears. I am in the woods with only direct sun from overhead in midday, but it has grown to a gigantic octopus and is very prolific with two crops per growing season. I never do anything to help it out. I dug a hole in the heavy clay soil (but on a slight hill so it does drain) and I just got soil from the woods and organic material and maybe some Miracle Grow topsoil, and planted it in that. I bought that tree from ACE Hardware in Durham (I think that store has been razed now). Ones I had ordered previously from Ty-Ty in Georgia did not survive, so if you order from far south, it may be the types that do not do well this far north. However: this blew me away. My son lived in Brooklyn for a while and there was a very huge, prolific fig tree in the backyard… a variety that stayed green in color.
Anyway, I find I feel much less stressed in gardening if I adapt this philosophy: “Plant it; if it grows; Hurrah! If it dies, eh. Try something else”.
Cheers,
Kira