My French Sugar’s first crop was hit by a late frost this year – however the second crop is now coming ready and they’re netted with the finest of netting so not even the Waxeyes can manage to squeeze through. Picking a fig just as it’s about to burst is the way to an exploding mouthful of textured honey.

It’s pretty difficult to buy Figs like this, they simply won’t transport. But I can tell you they are exquisite.

Whist the husband has firmly set his mind against eating FRESH figs he is a new fan of baked, especially when stuffed with his favourite blue cheese or wrapped in prosciutto. I’m onto a winner there.  Even for breakfast with bacon. It’s a good thing that figs are only around for a month or so….

Figs are so easy to grow too.  You don’t need a huge area, though they will grow enormous if allowed.  We keep ours trained against a retaining wall and this way we can throw the bird netting over it from the top and a lot of the figs can be picked from the top path.  You can also train them really low – check out the figs at the Figgery on Napier Road – they look rather low to me and a bit back breaking to pick, but perhaps they’ll let them to grow higher next year as the trees mature.  Figs simply need a nice sunny spot to grow.  They can be grown in large pots as they don’t mind root restriction and actually set fruit really well when grown this way.  Fig trees aren’t frost tender however you can lose a crop to a late frost.  Many varieties fruit twice so you don’t miss out entirely.  As with my French Sugar – they will simply crop again in autumn.

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