James Whitfield
A warm wall makes all the difference
Figs have ripened against British walls since Roman times, and the recipe has barely changed: give them the hottest, most sheltered spot you have. A south- or south-west-facing wall of brick or stone is ideal, because the masonry soaks up heat by day and releases it slowly into the evening. A fence will do, but it holds far less warmth. In colder counties a free-standing fig makes leaves and little else; trained flat against a wall with its roots confined, it can crop from Cornwall to Yorkshire.
If your warmest spot is an east-facing boundary, grow the fig in a large container instead, moving it against the sunniest wall for summer, or keep it in an unheated greenhouse to ripen under glass.
Choose a variety that ripens in our climate
Variety matters with figs more than with most fruit. 'Brown Turkey' remains the most dependable choice for British gardens, cropping well even in an average summer. 'Brunswick' is a touch hardier and crops a little later, while 'White Marseilles' gives pale green fruit with honeyed flesh in a good year. 'Rouge de Bordeaux' is superb eating but wants a greenhouse or a very warm, sunny pocket.
Figs carry two crops: a breba crop on wood ripened the previous year, and a main crop on this season's growth. In most of Britain only the breba crop ripens properly, which is the single most important thing to know about pruning. Cut out too much old wood and you cut out next summer's figs.
Restrict the roots, not the ambition
A fig left to itself puts its energy into roots and leaves, leaving you a handsome shrub and no fruit. Confining the roots is what persuades it to settle down and crop. The traditional method is to sink a bottomless container or build a planting pit lined with paving slabs, roughly 60cm square and 60cm deep, filled with loam-based compost mixed with grit. A large container, 35–45cm across, does the same job and lets you move the plant under cover in winter.
Confined roots need looking after. Water faithfully through the growing season, mulch the surface each spring with well-rotted compost, and top up the pit or pot with fresh material every few years. Avoid peat-based composts; a loam- or bark-based mix holds moisture better and is the more sustainable choice.
One caution if you are establishing a wildflower meadow nearby: don't run it right up to the fig. The ground beneath a wall-trained fig is dry, shaded and starved, and meadow flowers sown there will sulk. Keep the wildflowers for open, sunny ground and let the fig have its hot, mean little patch to itself.
Training and summer pinching
Train your fig as a fan against the wall, tying shoots in at 30–40cm intervals, or let it form a loose bush on a clear framework. Prune in spring, once the worst frosts have passed, removing dead, damaged and overcrowded shoots, but leaving the ripened young wood that will carry next year's breba crop.
The real trick is summer pinching. From June onwards, pinch out the growing tip of each new shoot once it has made five or six leaves. This stops the plant running away with itself and pushes its energy into the tiny figs forming in the leaf axils. Repeat on any further growth through July. Wear gloves while you work: the milky sap irritates skin and leaves a stubborn stain on clothing.
Watering, feeding and ripening the crop
- Water regularly from spring until the fruit colours, especially plants in containers. Irregular watering causes fruit to drop or split.
- Feed with a high-potash tomato feed from midsummer, or use homemade comfrey liquid. Too much nitrogen gives you leaves instead of fruit.
- Thin crowded clusters so each remaining fig has room to swell. A heavy set of small, hard fruits is worse than a light set of ripe ones.
- Keep the wall clear of shading growth — every hour of direct August sun counts.
Overwintering and next year's crop
In late autumn, go over the plant and remove every fruit larger than a pea. These will not ripen now, and left in place they may rot and damage the shoot. Leave the pea-sized figlets alone: they will sit tight through the winter and swell into next summer's breba crop.
Young shoots are the most frost-tender part of the plant, so drape fleece over them during late spring cold snaps, and protect wall-trained figs in exposed gardens by packing fleece or bracken around the framework in the coldest months. Container-grown figs are best moved into an unheated greenhouse, porch or sheltered corner, kept barely moist until growth restarts in March.
Ripe figs announce themselves: the stalk bends, the skin softens and deepens in colour, and a bead of nectar sometimes appears at the eye. In a good year you can be picking from late August into September. Net the fruit against birds and wasps, and pick with a gentle twist rather than a tug. Fresh from your own wall, still warm from the sun, they are a world away from anything you can buy.
