Growing Figs in Pots: Fig Tetris, Variety Trialling, and Collector Wisdom

🍋 Lemon Camp: September 17 and 24Grow a healthy, productive lemon tree in a pot. In these two live online sessions, Steven Biggs covers watering, feeding, pruning, repotting, pests, flowers and fruit—and how to get a lemon tree through the winter.Recordings are included, so you can watch afterwards if you can’t attend live.Learn more and register for Lemon Camp- - -  How many fig trees can one person reasonably grow? Nina Jay might not be the person to ask—unless you want the fun answer. In this episode, I chat with fig collector and expert Nina Jay about growing figs in the Mid-Atlantic, where winter protection, ripening windows, and variety choice all matter. Nina grows a large collection of container figs, and she brings a wonderfully organized—and only slightly obsessive—approach to trialling varieties, keeping records, overwintering trees, and squeezing a fig collection into a garage. We talk about how Nina thinks through growing-season “fig math,” why early and mid-season figs matter in cooler climates, and why late-season varieties can be risky unless you have a plan. Nina also explains why she grows in pots, how she uses trellising and irrigation in her fig patch, and how she stacks trees for winter storage in what she calls “fig Tetris.” Along the way, we get into favourite fig varieties, California fig envy, caprifigs and hand pollination, the importance of good records and good labels, and why the fig community is such a generous place for new growers.  In this episode:How to think about early, mid-season, and late figsGrowing figs in pots for flexibility, trialling, and winter protectionNina’s garage storage system for a large fig collection“Fig Tetris” and the art of fitting trees into winter storageUsing irrigation and trellising for container figsWhy Chicago Hardy is still a great starter figFig varieties including Smith, I-258, White Madeira #1, Vince 3, and moreCaprifigs, fig wasps, and hand pollinationKeeping a fig database with photos, dates, labels, and source informationFinding local fig growers, swapping cuttings, and learning from the fig community