DIY Network

Fig Overview Kelly Givens shares facts about figs and gives valuable planting information. From "Fresh From the Orchard" episode DFFO-108

Kelly Givens explains that figs are popular plants for good reason: they are a delicious and healthful fruit, and the trees are nearly maintenance free. In addition, because figs are self-fertile, you can plant just one tree and still get plenty of fruit. Kelly takes you step by step through choosing the best site for a fig tree and then demonstrates how to plant a bare-root fig.

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Overview and Varieties

Most figs grown in home gardens are called self-pollinating; one other type--the California fig--is grown in a limited geographical area and is pollinated by a wasp that lives only in that limited area.

• Figs are easy to grow; they also produce freely and require minimal maintenance.

• Fig trees come in all different sizes, from dwarf figs that reach only 6' in height to large plants that top out at 30' tall.

• Figs are native to both Mediterranean areas and tropical rainforests and are traditionally grown in warm climates. But some new cultivars are more cold tolerant, and varieties such as Hardy Chicago can be grown as far north as Zone 6, where winter temperatures can drop to minus 10 degrees.

• You can plant only one fig tree in your yard and still have fruit. But it's nice to plant two or more varieties, just so you'll have more figs to enjoy.

• There are many good fig varieties to grow as landscape plants. Some produce one crop of figs a year; others produce two. Figs that produce two crops a year usually have the first crop in the early summer and the second in the fall.

For this episode of Fresh From the Orchard, we planted two varieties, Celeste and Brown Turkey.

• Celeste, also known as Sugar Fig because of its sweet fruit, is very hardy and grows outdoors in USDA zones 6 through 9.

• Brown Turkey, an old-time favorite that's grown in zones 7 through 11, produces an abundance of fruit and is quite hardy. If the top part of the tree is killed back to the ground by winter freezes, the roots will resprout, and it will bear fruit on new growth.

Fig-Growing Basics

To grow figs in your yard, you need to pick a spot that gets plenty of sun. Figs need at least eight hours of sun a day for good fruit production.

When selecting a site, you also want to know your fig's average size at maturity and plan accordingly. A fig that will get 15' tall and 15' wide shouldn't be planted too close to a house or other structure. Smaller, more shrublike fig trees can easily be worked into planting beds and borders. Spring is the best time for planting fig trees.

Figs will grow in almost any soil, as long as it's not waterlogged or too acidic. Figs like to grow in soils between 6.0 and 6.5.

If you have very claylike or very sandy soil, it's a good idea to add organic amendments to the planting site. Organic amendments help break up clay soil and make it looser, and they add needed texture to sandy soils.

Planting

1. If you have ordered bare-root figs from a catalog, check the packing material when the plants arrive to make sure it's still moist (figure A). Set the figs aside in a cool, shady spot until you're ready to plant.

2. When you're ready to plant, wash away the packing material with a hose (figure B) and set the roots in a bucket of water to soak for several hours (figure C).

Figure A

Figure B

Figure C

3. Dig the planting hole a few inches deeper than the roots and wide enough that the roots can be spread out easily (figure D). Set the fig tree in the planting hole, positioning it so the crown of the fig is 2" or 3" below the surrounding soil, and spread the roots outward and downward (figure E). Unlike most plants, figs actually grow better if they are planted slightly below, rather than above, the soil line (figure F).

Figure D

Figure E

Figure F

4. Fill the hole three-quarters of the way with the excavated soil, then pour in one or two gallons of water to settle the soil around the roots (figure G).

5. When the water drains away, continue backfilling until the hole is full (figure H).

Figure G

Figure H