A contest, well sort of, I really want to hear your fig story.

DavidNC said:
After having a lackluster first year growing tomatoes in NC, when it was fairly straightforward in Ohio, I will need to take this into consideration. Never thought I would have to give a tomato less light.
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Millennial Gardener on YouTube who lives in Wilmington NC talks all the time about how a shade cloth helped his garden tremendously during certain times of the year. So much so he has built this huge structure over his raised beds now.
 
I am from Nigeria and in Nigeria we don't grow figs, the only person I know that has fig tree is a former President when he came to America for visit and when he was going back to Nigeria he was given a fig tree as a presidential gift and planted it in his personal house. When I came to America, I came straight to Atlanta in winter time and it was not easy, too cold because we don't have snow in Nigeria. In Spring I discovered that there are so many trees without fruit on them, in Nigeria being a tropical area, we have all types of fruit trees on the street and you are free to pick the fruits as long as the tree doesn't belong to anybody. So I made up my mind that some day I will grow fruit trees here in America. Spring of 2017 I went to Home Depot and as I was walking around, I saw some trees and I looked at the label and saw Fig tree. I said is this the same fig tree that the Bible talked about? Because of that I bought Brown Turkey for $42 and planted it without knowing nothing about how to care for it. To my surprise, it produced figlets and in Summer I ate figs for the first time in my life from my own tree and it was so delicious. Before the end of that year I had 5 fig trees in the ground and didn't fertilize them till 2019 when I watched a YouTube video and learnt that I have to fertilize my trees. That is how I got addicted to figs. One day I hope to have fig trees in Nigeria, to teach people about figs and spread the propagation of figs.
 
Jigfig said:
About three years ago I got clean off meth. I started gardening as a way to help with my anxiety and help keep my mind busy. Shortly after a fig video caught my attention due to the fact they did well in pots and didn’t have to be grafted. I got my first fig tree two years ago. Ever since I go look at the new growth, or stare at the leaves when I’m stressed or my mental health takes a turn for the worse. They give me pride and remind me my continued growth will reward me. Also teaching me some patience.
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Congratulations. I rejoice with you for your accomplishments.
 
goodnessatlanta said:
I am from Nigeria and in Nigeria we don't grow figs, the only person I know that has fig tree is a former President when he came to America for visit and when he was going back to Nigeria he was given a fig tree as a presidential gift and planted it in his personal house. When I came to America, I came straight to Atlanta in winter time and it was not easy, too cold because we don't have snow in Nigeria. In Spring I discovered that there are so many trees without fruit on them, in Nigeria being a tropical area, we have all types of fruit trees on the street and you are free to pick the fruits as long as the tree doesn't belong to anybody. So I made up my mind that some day I will grow fruit trees here in America. Spring of 2017 I went to Home Depot and as I was walking around, I saw some trees and I looked at the label and saw Fig tree. I said is this the same fig tree that the Bible talked about? Because of that I bought Brown Turkey for $42 and planted it without knowing nothing about how to care for it. To my surprise, it produced figlets and in Summer I ate figs for the first time in my life from my own tree and it was so delicious. Before the end of that year I had 5 fig trees in the ground and didn't fertilize them till 2019 when I watched a YouTube video and learnt that I have to fertilize my trees. That is how I got addicted to figs. One day I hope to have fig trees in Nigeria, to teach people about figs and spread the propagation of figs.
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That's awesome and a great fig story. I love hearing from people from all over!
 
In the spirit of sharing (not to win), here is my story, although I started my post 3 times and deleted it…

The past 4 years have been a nightmare for me, hitting an all time low, which involved a broken back (drunk driver) which led to CRPS (the most painful syndrome in medicine), and a very unexpected divorce after a midlife crisis completely changed my husband of 32 years, who blitzkrieged me by draining me financially and leaving me for a 24yo. Then I moved to a state where I knew no one, was all alone (except for my daughters), aka no support system. I’m normally a pretty happy person, but this level of betrayal did me in, and I became deeply depressed, and then had an unexpected stroke and a heart surgery to correct the hole in my heart that caused the stroke.

But while I was a pool of misery, a few women in a garden group that I had literally only met once, stepped up and helped me - they took me to UPenn for the surgeries and were my support system even though they didn’t even know me.

Throughout my life, gardening has always been my true joy and source of peace. And as I was rehabbing, I found my joy again.

But here I was at the bottom of the pile, the receiver, not the giver, who I have always been my entire life, and that is a very enlightening place to be, because you realize who your true friends are, and what genuine kindness and generosity look like.

I thought I didn’t like figs, since I don’t like fig newtons, but then I tasted my first fresh fig, and my taste buds exploded in my mouth, and all I could say was, “WOW, omg, WOW!! Seriously, wow!”
Real eloquent, huh?

But it wasn’t just the taste, the more I learned about figs, the more interested I became.

And I love learning about all the different varieties, the different ways people grow and propagate them, the whole thing is interesting, and frankly quite unique in the plant world. And frustratingly contrarian to everything else I have learned in gardening.

But that wasn’t all of it. The thing that really surprised me is the people.

I found that “most” of the fig people I come across are men (and a few awesome women), are usually analytical thinkers, are good people, and are a wee bit on the introverted side, and can talk about figs pretty much nearly any time, lol. And bam, just like that I found my people! ☺️
 
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BucksCountyFigs said:
In the spirit of sharing (not to win), here is my story, although I started my post 3 times and deleted it…

The past 4 years have been a nightmare for me, hitting an all time low, which involved a broken back (drunk driver) which led to CRPS (the most painful syndrome in medicine), and a very unexpected divorce after a midlife crisis completely changed my husband of 32 years, who blitzkrieged me by draining me financially and leaving me for a 24yo. Then I moved to a state where I knew no one, was all alone (except for my daughters), aka no support system. I’m normally a pretty happy person, but this level of betrayal did me in, and I became deeply depressed, and then had an unexpected stroke and a heart surgery to correct the hole in my heart that caused the stroke.

But while I was a pool of misery, a few women in a garden group that I had literally only met once, stepped up and helped me - they took me to UPenn for the surgeries and were my support system even though they didn’t even know me.

Throughout my life, gardening has always been my true joy and source of peace. And as I was rehabbing, I found my joy again.

But here I was at the bottom of the pile, the receiver, not the giver, who I have always been my entire life, and that is a very enlightening place to be, because you realize who your true friends are, and what genuine kindness and generosity look like.

I thought I didn’t like figs, since I don’t like fig newtons, but then I tasted my first fresh fig, and my taste buds exploded in my mouth, and all I could say was, “WOW, omg, WOW!! Seriously, wow!”
Real eloquent, huh?

But it wasn’t just the taste, the more I learned about figs, the more interested I became.

And I love learning about all the different varieties, the different ways people grow and propagate them, the whole thing is interesting, and frankly quite unique in the plant world. And frustratingly contrarian to everything else I have learned in gardening.

But that wasn’t all of it. The thing that really surprised me is the people.

I found that “most” of the fig people I come across are men (and a few awesome women), are usually analytical thinkers, and are a wee bit on the introverted side, and can talk about figs pretty much nearly any time, lol. And bam, just like that I found my people! ☺️
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Wow, I'm at a loss for words. Sorry for your troubles but glad you pulled through and found your joy again. I'm super glad you joined us here at Fig Fanatics!!
 
Jigfig said:
I hope one day after I’m gone my kids or grandkids eat a fig and think of good memories of me.
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^ Yes. That would be quite nice, wouldn't it :)

@DCallahan What a great contest! A fun way for us to get to know each other better, I wish I had thought of it :( !

I'm going to cheat and past a bit from the FigJam article:

Some older members of our family, my Dad and his siblings were growing them already (some over trees over a hundred years old from what I’ve been told). In about 2012 I discovered how easy rooting fig trees was after pruning some at my dad’s house. A couple of years later, I requested scions from the UC Davis gene repository (when they still allowed public requests). Eventually, I found the Ourfig.com forum shortly before COVID and I have been an avid collector since then (circa 2019).

We currently have over six hundred fig trees of over three hundred different varieties and over a thousand fruit trees in total. We have recently started going in-ground and have over thirty that survived the winter (2024-2025) but the rest are almost all in three to five-gallon nursery pots.
 
BucksCountyFigs said:
In the spirit of sharing (not to win), here is my story, although I started my post 3 times and deleted it…

The past 4 years have been a nightmare for me, hitting an all time low, which involved a broken back (drunk driver) which led to CRPS (the most painful syndrome in medicine), and a very unexpected divorce after a midlife crisis completely changed my husband of 32 years, who blitzkrieged me by draining me financially and leaving me for a 24yo. Then I moved to a state where I knew no one, was all alone (except for my daughters), aka no support system. I’m normally a pretty happy person, but this level of betrayal did me in, and I became deeply depressed, and then had an unexpected stroke and a heart surgery to correct the hole in my heart that caused the stroke.

But while I was a pool of misery, a few women in a garden group that I had literally only met once, stepped up and helped me - they took me to UPenn for the surgeries and were my support system even though they didn’t even know me.

Throughout my life, gardening has always been my true joy and source of peace. And as I was rehabbing, I found my joy again.

But here I was at the bottom of the pile, the receiver, not the giver, who I have always been my entire life, and that is a very enlightening place to be, because you realize who your true friends are, and what genuine kindness and generosity look like.

I thought I didn’t like figs, since I don’t like fig newtons, but then I tasted my first fresh fig, and my taste buds exploded in my mouth, and all I could say was, “WOW, omg, WOW!! Seriously, wow!”
Real eloquent, huh?

But it wasn’t just the taste, the more I learned about figs, the more interested I became.

And I love learning about all the different varieties, the different ways people grow and propagate them, the whole thing is interesting, and frankly quite unique in the plant world. And frustratingly contrarian to everything else I have learned in gardening.

But that wasn’t all of it. The thing that really surprised me is the people.

I found that “most” of the fig people I come across are men (and a few awesome women), are usually analytical thinkers, are good people, and are a wee bit on the introverted side, and can talk about figs pretty much nearly any time, lol. And bam, just like that I found my people! ☺️
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That's a lot of tough breaks to handle in a row. I'm sorry for your loss and we will pray for your full recovery.

I sure am glad you came to join us. We need good people like you!

I think I was also drawn in partly because there is so much interesting information to learn. Here I am a "serious" collector/grower for almost 7 years and I don't know the half of it. What a joy to be able to share our experiences, learn and grow together - even to the point of sharing cuttings!
 
PapaFig said:
^ Yes. That would be quite nice, wouldn't it :)

@DCallahan What a great contest! A fun way for us to get to know each other better, I wish I had thought of it :( !

I'm going to cheat and past a bit from the FigJam article:

Some older members of our family, my Dad and his siblings were growing them already (some over trees over a hundred years old from what I’ve been told). In about 2012 I discovered how easy rooting fig trees was after pruning some at my dad’s house. A couple of years later, I requested scions from the UC Davis gene repository (when they still allowed public requests). Eventually, I found the Ourfig.com forum shortly before COVID and I have been an avid collector since then (circa 2019).

We currently have over six hundred fig trees of over three hundred different varieties and over a thousand fruit trees in total. We have recently started going in-ground and have over thirty that survived the winter (2024-2025) but the rest are almost all in three to five-gallon nursery pots.
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Wow, that’s really cool to be born into a family endeavor, and to have this way to connect with each other.

Over 600 trees of over 300 varieties and thousands of fruit trees…mmm, heaven.

And I love the couple fig trees that I have seen that were even 20 years old, their bark is so gorgeous and smooth and gnarled, it feels like a living history in plant form. I can’t even imagine what a fig that is over 100 years old must look like.

Although you probably felt the opposite having to put all of those into winter storage!
 
BucksCountyFigs said:
In the spirit of sharing (not to win), here is my story, although I started my post 3 times and deleted it…

The past 4 years have been a nightmare for me, hitting an all time low, which involved a broken back (drunk driver) which led to CRPS (the most painful syndrome in medicine), and a very unexpected divorce after a midlife crisis completely changed my husband of 32 years, who blitzkrieged me by draining me financially and leaving me for a 24yo. Then I moved to a state where I knew no one, was all alone (except for my daughters), aka no support system. I’m normally a pretty happy person, but this level of betrayal did me in, and I became deeply depressed, and then had an unexpected stroke and a heart surgery to correct the hole in my heart that caused the stroke.

But while I was a pool of misery, a few women in a garden group that I had literally only met once, stepped up and helped me - they took me to UPenn for the surgeries and were my support system even though they didn’t even know me.

Throughout my life, gardening has always been my true joy and source of peace. And as I was rehabbing, I found my joy again.

But here I was at the bottom of the pile, the receiver, not the giver, who I have always been my entire life, and that is a very enlightening place to be, because you realize who your true friends are, and what genuine kindness and generosity look like.

I thought I didn’t like figs, since I don’t like fig newtons, but then I tasted my first fresh fig, and my taste buds exploded in my mouth, and all I could say was, “WOW, omg, WOW!! Seriously, wow!”
Real eloquent, huh?

But it wasn’t just the taste, the more I learned about figs, the more interested I became.

And I love learning about all the different varieties, the different ways people grow and propagate them, the whole thing is interesting, and frankly quite unique in the plant world. And frustratingly contrarian to everything else I have learned in gardening.

But that wasn’t all of it. The thing that really surprised me is the people.

I found that “most” of the fig people I come across are men (and a few awesome women), are usually analytical thinkers, are good people, and are a wee bit on the introverted side, and can talk about figs pretty much nearly any time, lol. And bam, just like that I found my people! ☺️
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Fig people are awesome! Often very quirky... but genuine, generous people. :)
 
BucksCountyFigs said:
Wow, that’s really cool to be born into a family endeavor, and to have this way to connect with each other.

Over 600 trees of over 300 varieties and thousands of fruit trees…mmm, heaven.

And I love the couple fig trees that I have seen that were even 20 years old, their bark is so gorgeous and smooth and gnarled, it feels like a living history in plant form. I can’t even imagine what a fig that is over 100 years old must look like.

Although you probably felt the opposite having to put all of those into winter storage!
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It was a chore, no doubt. The Shuffle is definitely something to consider. We are hoping/planning to go inground with most of them.
 
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