Focus on... Growing figs

Fancy a crop with unique ornamental appeal as well as delicious, prolific fruits? Just one year and a south-facing wall is all it takes for figgy delights, says Lucy

- Lucy Chamberlain

FORGET fig rolls as your source of consumption - fresh figs are where it's at! Naturally sweet, with that unique soft and crunchy combination, how exactly do you secure such a sublime harvest?

Growing essentials

Have you heard that a fig's yield is fickle? To reassure you, the three mature fig trees that I grow are loaded with more than 200 fruits each this year - that's hardly fickle! Just understand that, originating from western Asia, the common fig (Ficus carica) prefers things hot.

In its native climes its closeness to the Equator allows it to grow and yield almost continually. In the temperate UK (unless overwintered in a heated glasshouse or polytunnel) we should only expect one crop, which matures in late August. Pollination is not needed. A fig is not a true fruit, but a syconium, which is a fleshy false fruit, so you only need one tree.

Perfect pickings

With trees being vigorous, pot culture or planting into a pit sided with paving slabs helps keep plants compact and encourage cropping. Winter pruning consists of shaping the tree, whereas summer pruning (completed during July) aims to get sun to the developing fruits and encourage fruitlet formation.

It's the fruitlets that overwinter and give us our August crop, so the more of those, the merrier (protect these fruitlets from harsh frost). Wear gloves and cover arms when pruning to avoid getting the irritant milky sap on your skin.

Picking perfectly ripe fruit gives the best eating experience (see the panel on page 20). 'Brown Turkey' is the most prolific variety for UK cultivation, but also look out for 'Brunswick', 'White Marseilles' and 'Rouge de Bordeaux'.

Lucy's corner

Six ways to enjoy a feast of figs