Go Figs, Go!
The figs are in a race to see if they can ripen before the first frost. We live in a place that is a little too cold for figs to grow without protection. Most winters have a hard freeze that kills all of the plant above the ground and it has to start over.
When we get lucky and have a mild winter, the old wood sets figs that ripen in mid-summer. The new growth sets figs that ripen in the early fall if they can. Most of the figs on the new growth never make it.
Figs are one of the strangest things you might eat. They might seem like a fruit, but they are actually a flower that has grown with the petals on the inside. There is a particular species of wasp that crawls up inside the fig's bunghole to fertilize it, but they don't live in North America, so our figs are seedless.
This winter I am going to try protecting my figs from cold weather by wrapping them with burlap. The fig wood is extremely flexible, so you can bend all the branches up and cinch them into a tight bundle to keep them warm. I've even heard of people cultivating figs as far north as New York City by wrapping them in the winter.
We will probably get a dozen figs this year and I will just eat them straight off the bush. When we get a good harvest there are lots of ways to use figs. Fresh figs are wonderful with almonds, cheese, and honey in any combination. If you wear a toga and serve red wine in pewter cups it can be an authentic Roman party.
I also like Okracoke fig preserve, which is named after an island on the Outer Banks of North Carolina that has figs growing everywhere. It is a kind of heavy marmalade made with figs, sugar, and pieces of lemon rind.
Go figs, go! There isn't much time left before it gets cold.
Cheers, Professor Bromide 
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My Mom has several fig bushes and some years there are so many you can't hardly give them all away, while other years, like you said, if the winter is harsh, they freeze down to the ground and barely produce any. We did not have them when I was growing up, so they seem a little strange to me as an adult. My Stepdad grew up poor in the country and said they were like candy to him and his brothers and sisters as they rarely got any real candy. He said none of the figs were safe when they began to ripe back then.
It is remarkable how much your sense taste for sweet things changes when you have access to pure sugar. I cut way back on the amount of sugar I eat and now figs and carrot juice seem much sweeter to me.
I still have a sweet tooth, but if I drink a soda I feel like I've been poisoned.
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Look at those figs go!!! I hope they make it before the big bad frost 😊
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This was a great post! It got me thinking about whether or not we could grow figs here in Panama... and whether or not dried figs with seeds from the store would work. Since I have no idea where to get a cutting around here. We also just cut things and stick it in the ground to grow stuff. It's really neat!
I've never heard of figs being planted from seed before. They grow so easily from cuttings. If you ask around and find a gardener with a tree, it should be all down hill from there.
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I took this advice and hqve a few people looking for trees for me! I am hopeful they will find at least one!
I didn't know that about the wasp and the bunghole, lol! Very cool though, I hope the burlap works!
Sometimes we get one or two seeds from accidental pollination, but nothing like what you see in the dried figs from Turkey.
Figs are very easy to propagate from cuttings and they grow roots wherever the branches touch the ground. Not having any seeds doesn't really affect the cultivation. I would be curious to see the bunghole wasp in action, though.
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I might try and grow one next spring. I like the challenge of growing stuff that shouldn't grow here
Interesting! I didn't know that figs were so sensitive to the cold.
My sister lived on a farm a little farther North where they stacked straw bales around the figs to protect them. I've even heard of people digging a trench next to the plant and tipping the whole thing over to cover it with soil.
My plants started from cuttings off of a big tree at the university where I used to work. It is growing in a South facing courtyard surrounded by brick walls and thrives there with no extra protection.
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