Things That Bring Me Joy: Fig Trees
Fig Tree Sprout – Present Day
I can still remember the first time I saw a Fig Tree; I was watering a neighbor’s garden for them as they were out of town. When I was watering, I noticed one plant that looked more like a mini tree than a regular potted plant. I looked closer and noticed it had fruit growing on it and with some clever deduction figured out it was a Fig Tree! I was hooked… however, I didn’t buy one right away. Several years later, I was in a garden store (City Floral) and I saw a Fig Tree, It reminded me of Julieann’s (that was my neighbor) tree, I bought it and brought it home. This Fig tree was tall and very skinny with two branches and smaller branches coming out from it. It’s kind of a scrappy looking thing and very unassuming. One year I thought I’d lost it because all the leaves fell off, but much to my surprise it sprouted new ones and fruit followed there after!
After that, I started paying more attention to the sheading of the leaves and notice each time I ended up with more figs. Then last fall, about October according to my garden notes, I happened to catch an episode on Gardener’s World where Monty Don talked about taking a cutting from a Fig tree and growing a new tree from the cutting! I thought hey I have a Fig tree, I wonder if I can do that? This was the beginning of my experimental gardening, after that it was potatoes, hanging tomatoes, and the garden exploration just keeps going!
But, back to the Fig Tree…. So here is what I’ve learned thus far, Figs like poor soil. To take a cutting you first look for stems that don’t have flowers or fruit on them; the second thing to look for is nice straight growth that has both new wood and old wood on it – this kind of cutting is called hardwood cuttings so you can do it any time between October and Christmas, and it will be fine. The third thing to do is remove most of the leaves, they will fall off any way, but save one leaf. You keep this one leave so you can remember it is a Fig tree! The stem needs to be long enough to go mostly in the soil, so it has both old and new growth in the soil.
Next use Vermiculite with peat free soil compost (you can also use perlite or grit) – the important thing is it is free draining. To make roots the stem needs both water and oxygen, hence the vermiculite or perlite. Once you have roots then the cutting needs nutrition but until then no worries. The fourth thing to do is to find a nice deep pot to sink the cutting in, place it in a corner of the pot (the sides give it support) and make sure 90% of it is in soil. Put it in a sunny spot and water it daily. Roots will develop by next Spring, and you can pot it out next Autumn.
Well, you can imagine much to my surprise and delight, my little cutting not only took root, but it also sprouted out with leaves and has grown into a mini–Fig Tree. No fruit yet but the leaves are many and are green and healthy and it just keeps growing! I did pot it out in good drainage soil and topped it with small black river rocks. The river rocks were more for aesthetic. I bought a small ceramic Buddha and strategically placed him under the Fig Tree. So now I have two Fig Trees growing in the house, each with their own Buddha and both enjoying the same window, one on the windowsill the other in a pot on the floor and well on its way to touching the 10-foot ceiling (I think it might be at about 8 feet right now… I need a ladder if I want to inspect the leaves. My Fig trees are one of the many things in our urban setting that bring me balance and great joy every day.
