Fig
Ficus carica
Mediterranean tree that keeps good company with lavender and herbs.
Light Full sun
Water Low–moderate
USDA zones 7a–11b
Height 2–5 m
Spread 13 ft 1 in
Spacing 2–4 m
Sow depth Deep
Spacing & sowing
- Plant spacing
- 9 ft 10 in
- In-row spacing
- 8 ft 2 in
- Between rows
- 13 ft 1 in
- Square-foot density
- Not suited to SFG
Calendar (from your frost dates)
- Plant out
- at the last spring frost
- First harvest
- 150 days after the last spring frost
- Harvest ends
- at the first fall frost
Growing
- Type
- Fruit · Perennial
- Botanical family
- Mixed / other
- Sunlight
- Full sun
- Watering
- Low–moderate
- Soil
- Free-draining, moderately fertile
- Feeding
- Something potassium-rich while it fruits, and no nitrogen.
- USDA zones
- 7a–11b
- Frost tolerant
- Yes
- Flowering
- May
- Pruning
- Prune in late spring, then pinch the shoot tips out in June.
- Overwintering
- Wrap it in frost cloth in cold areas to carry the embryo figs through.
Through the year
- Apr–May Bud Break
- May–Jun Flowering
- Jun–Aug Fruit Set
- Aug–Oct Harvest
- Oct–Oct Growing
- Oct–Dec Leaf Fall
- Jan–Apr Leaf Fall
Harvest
- When
- August–September outdoors in the UK (one crop, from embryo figs formed the previous autumn); warm US zones get a June "breba" crop plus a main late-summer crop. Trees crop in 2–4 years, best with roots restricted.
- What to look for
- The fruit droops on its stalk (hangs down instead of standing out), softens fully, the skin colors and may crack slightly, and a drop of nectar ("a tear") often beads at the eye. A ripe fig detaches with the gentlest lift. Figs do not ripen once picked — a hard fig picked early stays hard.
- How to harvest
- Support the fruit and bend it back off the stalk, or snip with the short stem attached; the milky latex sap can irritate skin, so gloves help. Handle very gently — ripe figs are essentially bags of jam.
- How often
- Check every day or two in the ripening window; fruits ripen one by one over several weeks and are perfect for only a day or so each. In autumn, remove any fig bigger than a pea that hasn't ripened (UK) — only the tiny embryo figs overwinter.
- Storing the crop
- Eat within 1–2 days (fridge, but serve at room temperature). They don't travel or keep — which is why homegrown figs beat any bought one. Excess makes fig jam, or halve and freeze/dry.
Companions
Rue, Mint, Strawberries
Pests & problems
- Birds Pigeons strip brassica leaves; other birds take fruit, buds, and seedlings. Netting fixed taut over hoops is the only reliable protection.
- Coral spot Orange-pink pustules on dead or weakened wood that can spread into live branches. Prune out affected wood to a clean cut, leaving no snags or stubs.
- Root & crown rot Root rot in waterlogged soil
Did you know?
A fig isn't a fruit but an inside-out cluster of flowers, pollinated in the wild by tiny wasps.
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's herbarium at cottagegardencompanion.com