FOOD OF THE GODS

THE FLESHY FRUIT OF THE FICUS WAS MUHAMMAD’S FAVOURITE AND BUDDHA FOUND ENLIGHTENMENT UNDER A FIG TREE

- Jennifer Stackhouse

Fig label

Common name: Fig

Botanical name: Ficus carica

Family: Moraceae (mulberry family)

Aspect & soil: Full sun; well-drained soil

Climate: Cool, Mediterranean, temperate, subtropical

Habit: Deciduous tree

Propagation: Cutting, suckers, grafting, aerial layering, potted plants

Difficulty: Moderate

A promising crop of figs is starting to swell on my huge backyard fig tree. It’s a ‘Brown Turkey’ and it has already had one crop.

Sadly, in my cold Tasmanian climate, this developing crop will come to nothing as the long hot days of summer give way to the cooler days of autumn. Despite knowing that this is the outcome, I look longingly at the figs hoping this season it will be different.

In most climates, figs produce two crops a year. The main crop, which is forming now in summer, ripens in autumn. That long, slow ripening period produces sweet, juicy fruit.

The sweetest figs are those bursting out of their skins — they’re the ones that don’t make into shops and the main reason to grow your own.

Left unpruned, as my tree was, a fig grows into a large, handsome shade tree reaching 6m tall and 4m wide. If this sounds bigger than expected (and it is very large if you intend to net the tree), control its size by pruning it in winter or very early spring when the tree is bare and the crop harvested.

Figs can tolerate a hard winter pruning, which also encourages new growth and ensures lots of fruit.