By Susanne von Rosenberg, UC Master Gardener of Napa County
I still remember my first fresh figs. My family was traveling in Southern Europe and my dad stopped at a roadside stand. He was so happy that they had figs. Looking at the dark brown, lumpy fruits, I didn't exactly share his excitement…until I tried one. That sweet, colorful flesh was a wonderful surprise, and I've been hooked on figs ever since.
Figs are an ancient fruit. There are descriptions of them in Sumerian writings, and archeological evidence of figs dates back to 5000 BCE. Fruit that has been cultivated for that long is usually tasty and the trees are tough. What more could a gardener want?
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of fig varieties. No matter where you live in Napa County, you'll be able to find a variety that's right for your microclimate.
All these varieties belong to one of two types: common figs, which do not require pollination to set good fruit; and Smyrna figs, which require pollination. Smyrna figs are pollinated by caprifigs, which provide pollen but are considered inedible. For the backyard gardener, it's easier to plant common figs, and they are also the most readily available.
Figs are propagated from cuttings and grow on their own roots. You can get cuttings from friends or at scion exchanges and start trees of varieties that you like.
The best time to collect cuttings is during the dormant season. Keep them in a plastic bag in your fridge until the weather has warmed up a little. I like to plant two or three cuttings, six to eight inches each, in a 1-gallon pot. Usually at least two of the three will root.
That success can get addictive. (I have 14 fig trees!) Self-seeded fig trees hardly ever produce good fruit. According to the fig expert at the UC Davis germplasm repository, only about 1 in 100 wild fig seedlings produces tasty fruit.
I happened to get lucky with my first one and then planted another donated seedling that has never produced edible fruit. (It still makes a good shade tree, though.) Fig-tree trunks and branches are sensitive to heat and sun damage; whitewash them if they receive a lot of sun or are newly exposed after pruning.
The fig itself is not a single fruit but a syconium, an enlarged, fleshy and hollow flower stalk, or peduncle. The flowers are tiny and on the inside of the peduncle. A single fig contains many fruits; each seed is part of one fruit.
Many fig trees produce an early (“breba”) crop and a main crop. The breba crop forms on wood that grew the previous year, and the main crop—typically ready in late summer or fall—grows on the current year's wood. Breba crops can be killed by late frosts.
Fig trees have a reputation as relatively drought tolerant but they actually prefer regular watering (twice a month or more) during the dry season. If you have never watered your fig tree and it's doing well, it's likely getting water from irrigated areas nearby.
Fig trees tend to have large root systems. They prefer well-drained soils but can handle wet soils better than most other fruit trees. They don't require much winter chill.
You can prune a fig tree to a single trunk, or let it grow into a more bushy shape. Just prune the tree for balance and height. Depending on the variety, fig trees can grow from 10 to 50 feet tall. I recommend keeping them short so you can easily harvest the figs and don't waste water on figs that you'll never be able to reach.
Figs are ready to harvest when the neck starts to bend a little and the fruit starts to soften. You may also notice that figs swell quite a bit when ripe. They'll continue to soften after you pick them and only last in the fridge for a couple of days.
Fig trees need little fertilizer. If you fertilize too heavily, you will get a lot of leafy growth and no fruit. However, if the branches of your fig tree grew less than a foot the previous year, you may need to fertilize.
In our area, gophers are the primary pest of fig trees. They love to eat the roots. To foil them, plant your fig tree in a wire basket at least 16 inches deep and open at the bottom; that protection deters most gophers. If they do attack and kill your fig tree, the tree will likely re-sprout from undamaged roots. This has happened to me several times. Deer enjoy figs but will not harm the tree.
Varieties suitable for the cooler parts of Napa County include Osborne Prolific, Tena, Genoa, Blanche and the misnamed Desert King. Popular all-purpose figs include Black Turkey, Mission, Excel and Adriatic. Tiger Fig (Panache), Kadota and Conadria need a lot of heat.
Workshop: Napa CountyMaster Gardeners will present a free 1-hour Library talk via Zoom on Thursday, July 1, on “Potpourri of Growing Tips and Good Practices.” Learn how to clean and store your tools, how to manage yellow jackets, and more. Register to receive the Zoom link: http://ucanr.edu/2021JulyGardenTips
Free Guided Tree Walk: Join Master Gardeners of Napa County for a tree walk in Fuller Park in Napa on Tuesday, July 13, from 10 a.m. to noon. Limited to 12 people per walk. COVID safety protocols will be followed. You will be asked health questions and asked to sign in. Face masks and social distancing are required. Register here.
Got Garden Questions? Contact our Help Desk. The team is working remotely so please submit your questions through our diagnosis form, sending any photos to mastergardeners@countyofnapa.org or leave a detailed message at 707- 253-4143. A Master Gardener will get back to you by phone or email.
For more information visit http://napamg.ucanr.edu or find us on Facebook or Instagram, UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
Some of my earliest memories are from gardens. My family had a small gardening plot in our large back yard where my mother planted carrots, greens, cucumbers and peppers and oversaw a small strawberry patch.
My mother never harvested a single carrot from that garden because I loved to pull up and eat the fresh baby carrots, dirt and all, long before they reached maturity. I confessed this to her decades later when she was celebrating the carrot harvest in her new garden bed and scratching her head over those years of failed crops. She had thought we had moles.
My great-grandmother's garden was the fantasy fairy world of any child's imagination. It included sweet-smelling jasmine; thick, woody rose bushes; hydrangeas in every color; a potting bench; an open-sided shed offering shade and respite; and a fig tree so big and prolific that it could hide a horse and feed it, too.
My imagination was fueled by more than just my great-grandmother's beautiful flowers; my great-grandfather had added his own touches. An avid naturalist, local hiker and hunter, he used the shed to display found and hunted skulls, skins and obsidian arrowheads. The entire rose garden was encircled with Wappo mortars and pestles he had collected.
In this garden, sitting next to my great-grandmother on her shaded patio swing, we would sing lady bug songs, smell the sweet air, eat fresh figs and listen to my great-grandfather spin tales about the native people of our surrounding area.
It was in this garden, two decades later, that I would plant my own first vegetable patch. By that time, my great-grandfather had been hiking in spirit for nearly ten years. His entire collection had been donated to Calistoga's Sharpsteen Museum, tripling their collection of Wappo artifacts. My great-grandmother had moved into assisted living, and I was asked to move in and care for the house and yard.
Venturing beyond my familiar memories of this yard, I discovered a surprisingly large and sunny long-ignored patch by the fence. Surely I had seen this area before, but this time I saw it with new eyes. It would be my space, a place of trial, hope and anticipation.
I purchased a gardening book from the local bookstore, borrowed my mother's rototiller, picked up some starts and seeds from the nearby nursery, measured, mapped, planted and drip-lined the entire area myself. I was 23.
I knew nothing about fertilizer, soil tilth or amendments, and the only garden pests I knew were snails and slugs.
By sheer dumb luck, I harvested corn, squash, cucumbers, peppers, radishes, potatoes, eggplant, onions, garlic and greens from that garden. All my friends and family were impressed and benefited from my newly discovered green thumb.
Now, in my own home with my own family, I work to instill a similar garden-loving foundation with my own children. I include them in selecting the seeds and seedlings that we plant and in preparing, planting and managing our garden.
My son, who likes to dig, helps prepare our raised beds. He also loves to help rip out the old plants and mix in the amendments. With close supervision, he's a great weeder, too.
My daughter is not a fan of getting her hands dirty but has great attention to detail. She is in charge of removing all the little rocks from the garden beds and inspecting plants for pest damage. If she finds any, we make a science experiment out of it. We talk about what we have observed, whether it indicates a “good” or “bad” bug and how to deal with it appropriately. Both of my children love to collect the bugs and water the new seeds and any containers that are not connected to the drip system.
Come summertime, you can almost always find my kids in the backyard chalking the concrete and watching for butterflies, hummingbirds, dragonflies and ladybugs. They make houses for the sow bugs, and pick and eat beans and strawberries right off the plants. They know which flowers are edible and which weeds I like to keep. They are my garden eyes and ears and a huge part of the reason we grow vegetables at home.
I am eternally grateful to my mother and great-grandmother for my gardening heritage and grateful that I get to pass that legacy along to my own children. Certainly I will feel more sadness than satisfaction the day I pluck my first mature carrot from our garden, an experience I'm hoping remains a long way off.
Workshop: U. C. Master Gardeners of Napa County will host a workshop on “Creating Holiday Wreaths” on Sunday, December 11, from noon to 3 p.m., at the Yountville Community Center, 6516 Washington Street, Yountville. Learn what plants in your garden could make good wreaths for decorating. Learn how to choose and prepare plant materials so they will look good for a long time. Learn tips and tricks for designing and making easy wreaths for the holidays or any time. Participants will create their own wreath to take home, made from locally collected plant materials. $20 for Yountville residents; $23 for non-residents. Register with Yountville Parks & Recreation or call 707-944-8712.
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. U. C. Master Gardeners of Napa County ( http://ucanr.edu/ucmgnapa/) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions? Find us on Facebook under UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.