Allotments 4 All

I know it's a funny question ... but I have a bath knocking around that came with my plot and I've heard the advice that you should plant a fig in a restricted area to encourage it to fruit.

Firstly, is this really true?  Some of the best big fig fruiting trees I've ever seen are planted straight in the ground.  The ones I've tried to grow in large pots seem to stay tiny and make about 3 figs per plant - I want a glut!

Now I've taken on this second half-plot I reckon it could do really well in the shelter of my shed.  My plan would be to bury the bath and plant the fig in that.  It may find it's way out of the plughole ... but that would be it's only escape!

Any advice?

They do grow bigger in open soil... but it makes them harder to tame to get a good crop.
I'd be worried with just a plughole that the root would block it and ir would get waterlogged, which it would hate.
Mine is in a green builders bucket, with no base, but a 10" layer of broken bricks. This allows the water roots to get out but keeps the feeder roots in.

That sounds like great advice I don't want to bog it down ... I didn't know about feeder and water roots ... how does that work?

Also - is there a different good thing I could plant in the bath if it could get waterlogged.  Watercress?

Quote from: squeezyjohn on August 19, 2016, 00:21:41
Also - is there a different good thing I could plant in the bath if it could get waterlogged.  Watercress?

There's a limit to how much watercress you can eat! You need something else to go in with it.

Wapato - the duckpotato/arrowroot (Sagittaria latifolia) has a good reputation (ie. probably not just famine food).

There was an article on growing them in the RHS magazine (The Garden) about... 2 years ago?

It is also hardy; (unfortunately the chinese water chestnut isn't, but I grow yacon anyway as a substitute).

Next year I'm experimenting with root pruning figs - plant in a 30cm++ pot over a pit of compost and in Autumn just put a spade under the pot to shear through all the roots that escaped, then move it over a new pit. I did this by accident once and it worked and cropped well. I might combine this technique with the incredibly productive Japanese system of growing as horizontal cordons under cover - there was an article in the CRFG magazine (well worth subscribing) about...3 years ago.

Cheers.

Quote from: Vinlander on August 19, 2016, 11:56:06

there was an article in the CRFG magazine (well worth subscribing) about...3 years ago.

Cheers.

Is that Californian Rare Fruit Growers?

Quote from: ancellsfarmer on August 19, 2016, 19:39:00

Quote from: Vinlander on August 19, 2016, 11:56:06

there was an article in the CRFG magazine (well worth subscribing) about...3 years ago.

Cheers.

Is that Californian Rare Fruit Growers?

Yes, they are at crfg.org and the magazine is called Fruit Grower - it is very informative on a wide range of fruit, including middling exotics like figs. Admittedly about 50% needs a mediterranean climate but there's an amazing amount of stuff that doesn't. The custard banana tree for example (Asimina triloba) is fully hardy and will  fruit here when it's about 2m  - and it's the closest thing to a mango you can grow north of the Canaries.

Sorry I left that out, I was having browser trouble when I posted it.

Cheers.