Paradisio BeforeIt is going to be hot again today. Yesterday reached 91F. It might today too. So there hasn't been a lot of gardening going on. Mostly hiding in the house in the afternoon. But this morning I finally got around to the fig trees.
Paradisio AfterThe Paradisio fig didn't die back too far this year except at the ends. Though it is a slower grower than my other one so it hadn't made it to the ends of the trellis yet. I keep the main trunk horizontal about a foot off the ground and have the branches going vertical. The branches get cut back before insulating them for the winter.
Brown Turkey BeforeMost of the trunk of the Brown Turkey had died back. In addition some animal - probably a mouse - had chewed the bark off of a lot of the trunk. So it got cut way back. I might have to use something besides leaves to insulate them.
Brown Turkey AfterI should have done this weeks ago, but just hadn't gotten around to it. The garden proper tends to be better looked after and I tend to ignore the front yard more. I need to keep after it though.
While I was out tending trees. I dealt with tying up my pear and apple espaliers too. They never seem to want to branch were I want them to. So I cut all of the tops off of them to try to get them to branch more. I would really love it if I could get the structure of the trees done this year but I'm guessing I'll need one more before it is all done.
Why do you cut figs when they grow? don't you want to keep them to produce actual figs? I do cut mine down in fall for winter but once it grows in spring I leave it alone until fall. just curious.
ReplyDeleteThey are being done as an espalier. So they need to be trained and extraneous branches cut off.
DeleteIt must be so nice to be able to pick fresh figs. I would love to grow them but I would probably have to keep them in pots as I think our winters would likely be much too severe.
ReplyDeleteMy fig trees are growing well but still no signs of fruiting. A green house definitely comes in handy if you want to grow figs in our climate. I grew wonderfully sweet and enormous figs when we lived in Vermont and had an indoor conservatory. Eventually, I'm hoping to put in a lean-to greenhouse on the side of our heated barn and just keep it minimally heated during the winter time. Until that day, I'll just have to hope for any crop.
ReplyDeleteWhat lovely fig trees, they are my favourite and I've just planted two in my garden this year, as well as the ones I have in pots. I need to sort my apples out as well, I wanted espaliers, but the apples have other ideas!
ReplyDeleteI have 2 new fig trees as well. They will need some serious winter protection here in zone 5, but I want them so bad!
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