'Willpower & sheer idiocy combine in harmony'
Training & pruning
TRAIN figs on walls outdoors or in the greenhouse against horizontal wires 30cm (12in) apart or hang 15cm (6in) netting 30cm (12in) away from the glass. The sap is an irritant.
Wear protective gloves, start pruning from the bottom of the plant and work upwards.
Fan-trained figs: Allow enough space to train the fig as a fan. The height and spread can be up to 2m (6.5ft) x 3-3.5m (10-12ft) wide.
In June, pinch out the growing tip of every other young shoot on the main framework to encourage lower, bushier growth. As shoots develop, tie them into the wires.
Container figs: In late March, cut out dead stems and weak branches before growth starts. In mid June, remove the shoot tips from new growth, leaving four to five leaves.
Restricting root growth encourages fruiting. Either dig out a planting pit lined with slabs, use a root restricting bag, or grow figs in containers on the patio.
For figs in containers, plant in March-April into a pot one size larger than the original. Start them off in 30cm (1ft) pots and re-pot every two years using John Innes No 3 in a pot about 5cm (2in) larger. Leave a gap of at least 2.5 cm (1in) between the soil and the rim of the pot, to allow for watering.
Fig Brown Turkey before its move into the greenhouse.
If they don't fruit, at least they've got great leaves
ANOTHER impulse, bargain buy - fig Brown Turkey, the go-to variety for Britain.
It can be grown indoors or out, and is suitable for containers.
To grow figs successfully outdoors in our climate, they need to be planted against a sunny wall and have winter protection.
Oddly, fruit develop without flowers (they are inside the fruitlets) or, in Britain, pollination, so you can get a crop with a single plant.
In spring, apply a general-purpose granular feed and mulch around the base of fan-trained plants, with well-rotted organic matter. Soil should be moisture retentive and free draining.
Once the figs appear, apply liquid tomato fertiliser every two to three weeks, until they start to ripen. Water well during summer.
Figs like to have their roots cramped, which is why they do so well in containers (mine's in an old coal scuttle). If you have one planted in a bed, dig around the outside of the rootball every couple of years with a spade to constrain it.
Winter protection outdoors: for fan-trained figs, after leaf fall, pack the plant with straw, bracken, or bubble wrap and cover with horticultural fleece. Remove the insulation from May onwards.
Fig Brown Turkey with almost ripe fruit, September 20.
Growing figs and bananas under glass
FIGS grown in an unheated greenhouse usually produce two crops, but those growing outdoors crop once.
Fruit is ready when the skin is soft, sometimes sugary liquid is secreted from the ‘eye’ at the base. They split when squeezed.
Figs can produce fruitlets in late summer and spring or summer - only the tiny pea-sized fruitlets produced in late summer survive winter and are advanced enough to flower the following summer.
Fruitlets produced in spring may ripen in greenhouses.
Remove larger fruits that are not mature enough to ripen at the end of the season, leaving the tiny embryo fruits at the shoot tips.
SUITABLE varieties: Brown Turkey; Brunswick; White Marseilles; Osbourne Prolific (greenhouse); Rouge de Bordeaux (greenhouse).
Harvest time
Going bananas? Yes
And then there were three
AM I going bananas? Yes. At both the spring and autumn Harrogate Flower Shows, I brought back a banana from the Lost World Nursery stand - and again at Harperley Hall Farm Nurseries when banana No. 2 arrived.
The newest arrival is an Abyssinian Red (Ensete maurelii), which proved quite a talking point on two trains home! As it can reach 5mx4m, it should be interesting...
The other two are Musa Dwarf Cavendish, which grows up to a height of only 6-8 ft. The fruits range from about 15 to 25cm in length and each plant can bear up to 90 fingers, a close relative of the plantation bananas we all buy in shops.
Summer care
Bananas need full sun, lots of water and feed in a free draining, moisture-retentive soil. Plants need protection from strong winds which will tear the leaves.
Mulch well with well-rotted manure, chicken manure and/or feed with liquid tomato feed or any high nitrogen feed.
Winter care
Kept dry over winter, plants can remain dormant and will survive 5C - but won't fruit. Plants are best overwintered at temperatures of about 10C in a heated greenhouse. For fruit, a winter minimum of 15C is recommended.
Chinese origins
MUSA Dwarf Cavendish is a selected form originating in southern China in 1826.
The Duke of Devonshire aquired plants which fruited in the glasshouse at Chatsworth House. The plant was named after his family name of Cavendish.
Other plants, bearing the same name, reached The Canary Islands and Americas at the same time and Musa Dwarf Cavendish is now considered a 'type' rather than a specific cultivar.
First harvest
DESPITE a caterpillar wreaking havoc on the leaves, the fig fruits have finally riped - and they are delicious.
There's also a number of fruitlets formed already for next year - very pleasing.
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