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Fig Hedge

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A fig hedge for a cold climate!

The potted fig plants are in a trench. With the addition of a layer of mulch, the ugly pots are out of sight.

Figs are beautiful plants, with large, lobed leaves and smooth, grey bark.

The fig hedge will be beautiful. (And delicious!)

In November, once the trees are dormant, I will lay them over and cover them with mulch to protect them from extreme winter temperatures. (Any that don't fit in the trench for the winter will go into my garage.) 

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Hiding Pots with Potted Figs

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Trench for potted figs. Once backfilled with mulch, the pots and the boards lining the trench will not show.I sink my potted fig plants part way into the ground so that they can root into the surrounding soil. This prevents plants from tipping over in the wind, and allows them to scavenge food and nutrients from the soil.

Equally importantly, sinking the pots helps to hide them!

But digging holes for the pots every year is a lot of work. And...I want the pots completely out of sight. 

So this year, I've made a permanent trench. After I put the potted fig plants into the trench, I'll simply backfill with wood chips or bark. 

Advantages:

  • Pots are below grade and completely hidden under mulch

  • Pots will stay cooler and dry out more slowly

  • In autumn, wood chips are easy to remove when it's time to remove the trees for indoor storage

Stay tuned...I'll report back on how well this works this autumn.

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Extending Fall Fig Harvest

Extend fall fig harvest with a plastic tunnel or greenhosueFIG GROWERS IN TEMPERATE CLIMATES know that lots of the figs on their plants won’t ripen before the first fall frost causes the plant to go dormant. Such a waste!!

Some fig lovers protect fig plants from fall frost to allow more fruit to ripen before the tree goes into dormancy.

An unheated plastic greenhouse or tunnel can raise the air temperature considerably—delaying dormancy, and ripening more figs. Yum!

 

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Video: How to Grow Figs

If you think it's too cold to grow figs where you live, watch this video.

Maybe you can grow figs, even if they are not winter hardy in your area.

Fig trees are very forgiving plants that will take a lot of abuse.

In this video, I explain how to grow figs in places where they wouldn't normally survive the winter. It's not difficult! And you don't need a greenhouse to do it.

This is a talk I gave at Richter’s Herbs in 2013 about how to grow figs in cold climates.

As Steven Biggs puts it, "Growing figs shouldn't seem exotic; it should be straight forward stuff!" Indeed, a growing coterie of gardeners across Canada and ...
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A-Frame for Winter Fig Protection

Last week, my boys and I stopped by Adriano's for a visit.

Adriano grows it as a multi-stemmed bush, cutting out stems that become too big and, therefore, less flexible.

Adriano grows it as a multi-stemmed bush, cutting out stems that become too big and, therefore, less flexible.

His potted trees were outside; still dormant, but buds swelling nicely.

He showed me his in-ground Desert King fig that overwinters covered with an A-frame.

Alternative to Burying Your Fig

Thinking of growing an in-ground fig, but don't want to chop the roots and lay it flat?

The A-Frame method is another approach to overwintering figs if you're in zone that's too cold for figs to survive unprotected.

Uncovered for Spring

He says this big in-ground Desert King fig has been there for about 40 years.

He grows it as a multi-stemmed bush, cutting out stems that become too big and, therefore, less flexible.

When winter comes, he bends over the branches, and then places an insulated A-frame (made from wood and styrofoam) over the top.

Through Summer

It never fully stands upright, but instead is bent over, so that it looks as if it is praying!

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Figs Outdoors in Spring

My fig plants here in Toronto are leafing out. And the first crop of figs, the “breba” crop, is underway and should be ready in July.

But...a frost would spoil that breba crop. 

Here's what I say about spring frost and figs in Grow Figs Where You Think You Can't:

In the spring, frost won’t hurt your trees if the buds haven’t broken (meaning leaves and breba figs haven’t started to grow); but if they have, beware!

A frost will probably damage them and may affect your crop.

One year I moved my figs to a sunroom in the spring after they started to grow before I could put them outside. The problem was that I forgot to turn on the heat one night when the temperature dipped below freezing. Those tender new shoots were all frost-bitten the next morning…affecting my breba and main crops.

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