And once again, I am not going to taste a pawpaw fruit from my pawpaw trees this year. My two pawpaw trees, this one pictured and another one on the other side of the garden, didn't flower all that well in the spring and as I recall, there was some frost upon those flowers. If I am remembering correctly. Anyway, I looked occasionally throughout the summer for any fruit forming and never saw any. So that brings us to the philosophical question... is it better to have no pawpaws at … [Read more...] about Philosophical Pawpaw Ponderings
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My Midwest Figs and How I Grow Them
Yes, I successfully grow figs outdoors in central Indiana, USDA Hardiness Zone 6a. I grow my figs in the ground. I don't dig them up in the fall to move them inside or lay them in a trench to protect them from the cold. I don't keep them in containers and move them into the garage in the fall. That would be a lot of work! They are in the ground. And that's where they stay. The only thing I do that is the least bit special is cover the base of the plant with a big heap of chopped-up … [Read more...] about My Midwest Figs and How I Grow Them
Growing Figs Outdoors in Indiana
I just harvested figs I grew myself in Indiana on a fig tree growing outside. You can grow figs too!Whenever I harvest a bowl of figs I am tempted to arrange them in a lovely still life setting, suitable for a Renaissance-style painting. Even though I cannot off the top of my head recall such a painting.Figs just look old-worldly to me. Would you like to know my secrets for growing figs, Ficus carica, in the ground in Indiana, Zone 6a? First, I chose varieties that are known for … [Read more...] about Growing Figs Outdoors in Indiana
Figuring on Pawpaws, Pawing my Figs
My apologies for the title of this blog post. Sometimes, I can't help myself. Sometimes, I blame the garden fairies. Sometimes, I'm overly excited by the number of pawpaws on my pawpaw trees and the number of figs on my fig trees, which are actually more like oversized shrubs. This time, I'm excited because I think the pawpaw stealing raccoons are gone and I may finally get to eat some pawpaws in another month or so. How do I know the raccoons are gone? This summer, I managed to … [Read more...] about Figuring on Pawpaws, Pawing my Figs
Figs!
This week I've been immersing myself in the world of figs. Which means I picked my second fig from one of the two fig plants in my garden (Ficus carica 'Chicago Hardy' and Ficus carica 'Brown Turkey'). The two figs I harvested both came from the Chicago Hardy fig. I had, have, so many questions about figs because I've never grown them before and other than eating them in Fig Newton cookies, never really ate them. Oh my goodness. They are so much better fresh than in a cookie! I did read that … [Read more...] about Figs!
