Our neighbor lady in Phoenix had a huge fig tree, which produced bushels of the fruit. She gave us all we wanted, but the majority of them were discarded. What a waste of a natural, tasty, and healthful food! We vowed that someday.......
Indigence does not promote fruit-tree buying. We are doing much better now that my 10-years junior wife is getting her S/S benefit. Wally-Market had fig trees, about two-feet high, for thirty bucks; we bought one, in April. The spring winds battered it pretty badly, only the palm trees seem to shrug the winds off, but unimaginably, the little tree has produced about 10 fruits, several of which already ripened. They were scrumptious, very sweet! I built a substantial enclosure around it after we planted it, to keep out the little guys who might damage it: chipmunks, rabbits, and to cut down the wind a bit. Here are two ripe fruits, with a green one below them.
These are Black Mission Figs, the most-grown in the U.S. commercially, with much production in CA. 2012 world production of figs was over 1 million tons! Fossilized figs were found in an archaeological dig north of Jordan dating to about 9,200 BC, making the fig a pre-dater to domestication of grain or other grown food stuffs. Living in as plant-harsh a climate as ours, it is gratifying to have efforts rewarded like this. Two of three "desert-hearty" trees which we planted, died within a few months. They were Rosewood, Mesquite, and Willow Acacia, which is thriving most nicely. I'll post a pic of it, if desired. imp
Indigence does not promote fruit-tree buying. We are doing much better now that my 10-years junior wife is getting her S/S benefit. Wally-Market had fig trees, about two-feet high, for thirty bucks; we bought one, in April. The spring winds battered it pretty badly, only the palm trees seem to shrug the winds off, but unimaginably, the little tree has produced about 10 fruits, several of which already ripened. They were scrumptious, very sweet! I built a substantial enclosure around it after we planted it, to keep out the little guys who might damage it: chipmunks, rabbits, and to cut down the wind a bit. Here are two ripe fruits, with a green one below them.
These are Black Mission Figs, the most-grown in the U.S. commercially, with much production in CA. 2012 world production of figs was over 1 million tons! Fossilized figs were found in an archaeological dig north of Jordan dating to about 9,200 BC, making the fig a pre-dater to domestication of grain or other grown food stuffs. Living in as plant-harsh a climate as ours, it is gratifying to have efforts rewarded like this. Two of three "desert-hearty" trees which we planted, died within a few months. They were Rosewood, Mesquite, and Willow Acacia, which is thriving most nicely. I'll post a pic of it, if desired. imp
My daughter just brought me my first round of figs. They're much smaller than I see at the market though. Hmm, wonder why? They're fully ripe, nice and soft….maybe even more sweet and juicy since they were freshly plucked from the tree.