Kitchen Garden Forum

Pawty wrote: spot the difference competition coming up!

Ooo I know, I know, the new one is about an inch taller? Lol

I'm a little bit pleased... My one fig which ripened in the trees first year!

Well done! I had a Brown Turkey fig tree in a patio pot for years and despite looking after it, never got a full size edible fig off it!

Wow Congrats Pawty!

My fig tree is about 5 ft tall and is a great big plastic urn type pot I won. (I was after the teak patio furniture). It's roots break through through the drainage hole in the bottom every few years so I just saw through them. I've no ripe figs at all but there are loads on it of varying sizes, so hopeful for next year. The tree is about 8 years old maybe older.

Westi

Well done Pawty. There's nothing like eating something you've grown yourself is there. I've had three ripe figs off the Bourjasotte grise in the greenhouse. It's in a pot and not very big. My partner keeps buying them from the shop so I've not told him we've got some. He never asks what's ready and usually buys fruit I've got a glut of, plums, peaches, raspberries etc. He's even spent £2 on a small tray of blackberries last week when they're all along one side of the garden wall and in all the hedgerows around here. Obviously a townie

PLUMPUDDING wrote: I've had three ripe figs off the Bourjasotte grise in the greenhouse. It's in a pot and not very big. My partner keeps buying them from the shop so I've not told him we've got some. He never asks what's ready and usually buys fruit I've got a glut of, plums, peaches, raspberries etc. He's even spent £2 on a small tray of blackberries last week when they're all along one side of the garden wall and in all the hedgerows around here. Obviously a townie

My husband is rather like that too. I prefer to do the growing and he likes to do the cooking. He's not keen on gardening at all and rarely goes out there but a wander round the vegetable patch and veggie border would shout out what's available for consumption. It does irritate sometimes when I have lots of veg ready for consumption and I find a tray of expensive supermarket peas in the salad container on the grounds of "I like a bit of variety!" At least he knows not to buy climbing beans and tomatoes at the moment. The kitchen is full of them waiting to be processed!

Yes,Primrose, he wouldn't dare buy beans or tomatoes just now the kitchen is full of them.

Wow, that fig looks lovely, and I dont like fig's

That is amazing

Hi,

So, my fig tree survived the summer, and gave me one beautifully delicious fig. It's in pot on the patio, and I always intend on keeping it in a pot rather than put it in the ground. So a few possibly silly questions to help me get it through the winter -

- do you prune it back in either Autumn or Spring?
- if so, how much do you take off?
- would you suggest putting a warm fleece around it? I don't have a green house, but could move it closer to the house where it is a bit warmer?
- do you give it a feed and keep watering it?

I find pruning really scary. I've just about got it right for grapes but a tree is a whole new ball game!

Thanks in advance.

Pawty

Hi Pawty!

I don't prune mine, but have observed that they grow brilliantly when hacked down, although no fruit for awhile. On the way to the beach there was a huge one in front of these 3 story flats, they hacked it down last year to about a 2 foot stump. Already it is about 6 foot tall and there was a few fruit.

Just an observation - don't go hacking at yours until someone credible responds!

Westi

Not much of an expert Pawty as I had one in a big patio pot for about 8 years and it never really gave me any viable fruit. They do apparently like to have their roots resteicted but I'm not so sure about what should happen above ground as mine never grew to a big enough size to need pruning. The pot was really too bulky and heavy to move nearer to the house wall in winter and I never protected it with fleece. Perhaps that's why it never rewarded me with any fruit as it felt neglected!

The RHS website might possibly offer some pruning advice if we don't have any fig experts on the forum.

This was taken in May this year. It was a cutting the previous year and I cut the stem back to a bud half way up. It is fruiting on last year's growth. I've had six good sized fruits ripe so far. I'm certainly not an expert and always plant what I cut off as a fall back as they root very easily in a warm place.

I grow mine in an unheated greenhouse as the variety is too tender for outside it's Bourjasotte Grise.

The Brown Turkey grows outside ok but the fruits never ripen properly up here and are nasty little hard things.

There is a fig tree behind our place in Spain it's in a field that never gets touched the tree never gets water only when it rains the only way I can get near it is by quad as the weeds are two meters high but every year it's covered in fruit I love them with blue cheese , they do go berserk if left unpruned

I bought a small brown turkey fig around three weeks ago it has five small figs on it (that's why I bought it ) they are around an inch in diameter should I leave them alone or pull them off they are a bit small for eating

Monty wrote an article in the weekend mag in the Mail a few weeks ago and said you take off anything bigger than your little fingernail as they won't make. Anything smaller than this are next years crop apparently. I've read that before somewhere as well but wonder why the little teeny ones don't succumb to frost & cold. Do you reckon it's because they have less water in them maybe?

Westi