As life is fairly quiet at the moment, I am, once again, reduced to accompanying these blog entries with snapshots of 'corners of the garden'. The top three are of roses (of which we have a good display this year), and the last one is of the fig tree which I've been 'espaliering' against the garden fence - with some success. It is full of half grown fruit at the moment and looking good for 'high summer' produce. Hope so anyway - we both love the idea of fresh, home grown fruit. The fig tree is a 'Brown Turkey' which used to be thought of as the only breed of fig tree that would produce figs reliably, and regularly, in our climate. So far it's given us a few fine fruit every year since I planted it four years ago. I think though, that later in the year I'm going to have to cut it hard back in order for it to remain properly espaliered. If I don't, I think it could well turn into a thug of a tree dominating its immediate surroundings. Oh well! We'll see later in the year. I rather fear that if I cut it back hard enough to keep it in its proper area, it could well retaliate by giving us very few fruit for a year or so. Should any of my readers be more knowlegeable figologists than I am (which wouldn't be difficult) could you please give me any useful tips regarding keeping fig trees happy, and in their proper place.
Warm Regards to all.
P.s. Halfway through this blog entry the machine decided to use only italics. Anyone know any cure for this aberration?
4 comments:
Beautiful roses Mike and lovely healthy looking figs.
Ring your best local school and ask for the IT technician, they're usually very helpful people with a great sense of mission within the community.
See Wednesday's blog entry and comments for a discussion on curing computers of using italics and other silly means of getting our attention.
Does the fig tree live outside during the winter?
Hello Lori. Yes, that breed of fig tree is fairly hardy, and withstands our winters (which are, I think, rather milder that yours) pretty well. Our good friend Hilary has a fig tree of the same breed. Her garden is a small enclosed courtyard garden in the town centre, and her late husband planted their fig tree forty years or so ago. It is now a huge old tree and crops well every year in late summer, as does ours.
It's good to hear from you. Please give our regards to Gary.
Mike and Ann.
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