What Are Figs?

Figs are a true taste of the Mediterranean. Figs need both a sunny spot to grow and they take a long season to ripen fully, but they will give you a good crop of figs in most gardens. Fig are planted in the spring and they are harvest in late summer through early fall. Fig trees will make big trees if they are not kept to a manageable size by restricting their roots, which also will encourages them to fruit more freely. If somebody lives in colder areas and wants to grow figs, figs can be grown in containers and protected during the winter. Figs can be grown in a space that is small.

My family and I live on my home place. We live in Louisiana and figs grow very plentiful here in Louisiana. My parents and I did not have any fig trees on our property, and we still do not have any, but I sure would love to be able to plant some fig trees on our property now.  My aunt and uncle who lives down the road from us had fig trees and we would go and pick some figs for us when they would  get ripen.

Figs are usually sold as a container-grown plants and they will do good when they are planted in mid-spring. Fig flowers do not need to be pollinated in order to set fruit, so they will need to grow one tree.

Here are four different varieties of figs.

'Rouge de Bordeaux'- produces very delicious figs and this particular type will need to be planted in a sheltered, warm spot to grow good.

'Brunswick'- this particular variety will need a mild site to crop well and the figs will be large and sweet, ready for eating in late summer.

''Brown Turkey' This one is  widely available and it will grow well in cool areas. The figs will be ready to eat in late summer.

'Panache' - this one produces unusual-looking striped fruit. It is best to plant this one close to a warm wall, because it needs to be  trained against a warm wall.

The soil needs to be turned over and the weeds needs to be removed out of the soil, and composted bark [not manure] or incorporate sharp grit added to the soil to ensure good drainage. To restrict the roots, a planting pit that is 24 inches by 24 inches big needs to be built and the fig tree planted into it. If a fig tree is going to be planted in a container, the container needs to be at least 24 inches wide and deep, stones or pieces of broken pot needs to be put in the base for drainage before you plant the fig tree and the containers needs to be planted the same depth as it was planted in the pot. After the fig tree is planted it needs to be water good and a stake needs to be hammer in the ground afterwards to be used as a suitable tree stake.

The routine care of fig trees is that they need to be watered  in their year. The trees are fully harder, but the tiny-fruitlets that overwinter from one year to the next can be damaged by frost. The trees that are free-standing and well-trained can be cover with garden fabric to protect them from the cold. The trees will benefit by from annual  purring. Because fig trees takes so long to ripe, our summers are to short, so the tiny fruitlets that is produced in late summer overwinter on the tree and they will be mature  the following summer. If there is any fruiltlets  that is larger than a pea-size it will not survive the winter, and they need to be taken off of the tree in late fall by snapping them off.

The figs need to  mature  [ripen] when you pick them off of the tree, because  they will not mature much more indoors. When the figs are ripe they will hang downward from the branch, they will be a sticky sap that appears at the bases, and they will soften and it will let out a slight scent, and they will pull easily from the tree.  Birds may go after the soft, ripe fruits.

Young trees only need pruning, so they can keep their shape. Older fig trees are pruned twice during the spring to promote fruiting and a healthy shape. In early spring, the older stems needs to be pruned to encourage new growth. In the later part of spring, the tips of the new growth needs to be.

pinch out so new formations of new fruits can grow.