Figs grow well in Tasmania, but you don’t often see them.
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They are a very tasty fruit, eaten raw when ripe, or dried, or in jam.
Figs do best in deep soil which is moist and well-drained.
The trees usually thrive when planted next to a house, as this provides shelter from winter cold.
A fig tree usually begins to fruit about four years after planting, although in good conditions it can be less.
Usually two crops of figs are produced. The first is a light crop on the previous season’s growth during early or mid-summer.
The main crop is produced on the new growth in late summer or autumn.
Most garden centres provide figs as yearling plants in containers. These should be planted in winter.
A mature fig tree needs plenty of water during the growing season.
To help conserve moisture, the young tree should be well mulched. Compost is excellent for this.
If you give fertilisers high in nitrogen to fig trees they are likely to produce a lot of leaf growth with fewer figs.
You should leave the fruit on the tree until it is fully ripe. Figs don’t go on ripening after they are picked.
The first winter after planting your young fig tree, remove any new branches growing upright in the centre.
The objective is to encourage a compact, vase-shaped tree. But it should not become too open in the centre or branches will be sunburned.
Cut any other new branches back to half their length. Remove any suckers or shoots close to the ground.
Repeat this process for a few years to achieve a compact framework. Regular pruning ensures productivity.
A light pruning each year or two will assist in the production of new side shoots needed to produce a heavy main crop the following season.
Indulge the senses
In planning our gardens for summer we sometimes overlook that most important ingredient - scent.
A garden filled with fragrance as well as colour and attractive shapes is nature at its most perfect.
We should choose our new rose bushes not for their colour alone. Some are quite strongly perfumed, others have none.
The vigorous creeper jasmine is worth having in any garden for the scent that wafts from its little star-shaped flowers through the evening air in spring.
Here are some other sweetly scented flowers to think about.
Convallaria majalis, or lily of the valley, should have a special patch in the garden reserved for it.
It loves a shady corner where it can increase undisturbed each year by means of creeping root stocks.
Don’t neglect them in the autumn, when the flowers have all been picked, and they have died back.
Give them a generous helping of well-rotted manure, leaf mould or compost.
Solomon’s seal is an ideal partner for lily of the valley as it likes the same growing conditions.
Sweet-scented violets and primroses are good companions too.
Amaryllis belladonna, or the belladonna lily, must have just the right treatment for success.
Plant the bulbs at least 15 centimetres deep in summer on a dry, sunny bank, in a well-drained soil and sheltered from wind.
They are temperamental about flowering and hate any disturbance once they have settled into a flowering rhythm.
As soon as the flower stems appear through the soil, they grow at a great rate, and it is a daily excitement to watch their progress.
Different varieties of crocus bloom from late autumn until spring and most have a sweet scent.
Crocus longiflorus is probably the most heavily and deliciously-scented, with delicate, soft lilac flowers. It is superb in pots and window boxes.