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To: Pete from Shawnee Mission
Pictures of my Soup and Salad Autumn Garden.

(I want to avoid any "Under Cover"Gardening this year, so whatever does not mature by first hard frost is will become compost!)

This is an Olympian Fig. (probably a European Brown Turkey, which is not the same as the U.S. Brown Turkey!) I have 3 in ground fig trees Chicago Hardy, Olympian, and Valle Negra, that die back in the winter and grow back in spring with little winter protections here in zone 6B. (We do get down to -20F occasionally.) Once they go dormant I cut them back to ground level and cover them with bags of leaves or something that gives some protection. These are not the best tasting figs, but they are figs that will grow in relatively cold places. (My bucket grown favorite varieties...I-258, Bordissot Griese, Cavaliere, Campaniere.)

I have had a few ripe figs from the first two, but none from the Valle Negra. If you want fruit, it is necessary to prune them early beginning in the spring and shape them to form vertical scaffolds that produce fruit (At some point in late august snipping the top leader bud to redirect energy back to the developing figs.)

If you do not prune heavily, figs will become large weeds with no figs. Since I have better tasting figs that i grow in 5 gallon buckets and bring inside in the winter, I let the Chicago Hardy (Aka Bensonhurst Purple) just grow into a large landscape plant.

My mostly unpruned decorative Chicago Hardy. The stump of this tree was even with the ground in late March. I will cut it back to perhaps 8 to 12 inches when it goes dorment in mid November and cover it with something like leaves.

Note that Deer are not supposed to like fig trees. They are good in places with lots of heat but not so much where the temperatures get down below -17F to -20F.


94 posted on 10/04/2024 10:13:08 AM PDT by Pete from Shawnee Mission ( )
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To: Pete from Shawnee Mission

So nice that you can grow figs!

I used to order Brown Turkey Fig from a grower in Florida for the garden center. They do OK in a Wisconsin winter, either potted and brought under cover for the winter, or with other types of protection. They sold as fast as I could get them in. Customers loved them.


96 posted on 10/04/2024 11:26:10 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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