The Fig Tree that grows in today’s fruit garden is a tropical-like crop that matures figs in the Summer even in Northern States with a cold hardy character unknown until the last decade. Hybrid fig trees have been shown to survive temperatures of zero degrees in outside gardens and re-grow to produce various colored fig fruit in the Summer, colored, green, brown, black, blue, purple, white and yellow – tasty and delicious. The fig is tree ripe when the shape of the fig sags and is sweetest when picked to dry in the sun. The dried fig contains considerable sugar and can be used as fig newtons, fig candy or fig rolls. The cold hardy character of the fig means that the fig tree can be extensively grown when properly mulched throughout the U.S.

The fig tree was one of the ancient fruits recorded in the Bible along with the pomegranate, olive, grape and date palm that fed ancient civilizations reliably. A famous Bible reference in the Gospels of Matthew & Mark notes that Jesus cursed a fig tree, and the Apostle Peter noted that because the fig tree had no available figs to eat, the fig tree instantly withered. Many Bible Scriptures cite the fig tree leafing out as being a sign of Summer and also a sign of the apocalypse when Jesus returns to earth to rapture His Christian followers. The fig tree is highly productive and produces several waves of fig ripening, if the figs are picked often from the tree. In Europe the fig is sold fresh at markets or dried into fig bars or sold in cafes as fig desserts. The great problem with fig trees is the short shelf life of the fig after harvest, but drying the fig is an excellent alternative to spoiling.

Wildlife animals love to eat figs especially birds and many fig growers cover their trees with netting to thwart wildlife game. Farmers have known in the South that planting a fig tree in a pig lot will provide cheap food to fatten hogs. The fig tree is easy to grow and appears to favor sandy soil of low fertility. The greatest threat to fig trees is the old garden site that grows tomatoes and peppers where the nematode (eelworm) thrives in large populations. The nematode goes directly into the soft fleshy roots of the fig tree causing the fig tree to decline and the nematode can even crawl up into the bark to eat the fig leaf or fig fruit.