Hello Everyone,
Just thought I would introduce myself, I am from Falmouth Maine, I do landscaping for income along with a few sidelines including a small nursery focused on unusual edibles ( https://www.facebook.com/EdgewoodNursery ). I live on 5 acre homestead with my partner, kid and rotating cast of friends, we cultivate about 1/8 acre of annuals and about 1/2+ acre of perennials+trees with about 100 varieties of plants under cultivation.
I joined this forum because i friend posted a link to a pdf about step-over espalier and i needed to register to see it... but it seemed like a neat forum that i could learn a lot from, so here i am.
I would like to grow figs here is chilly zone 5a in the ground if possible, but i can do containers as a back-up, right now my plan is to grow my figs in a step-over espalier on swales on a steep southern slope. I use a lot of fall leaves for mulch and i could bury the trunks and possibly the (bent over) uprights of a espalier in leaves to protect them from the worst of winter. I would probably space them much closer together then recommended in the PDF i saw to increase the number of varieties i have space for.
Just today i got a box of fig cuttings that i am starting to root (i stored about 1/2 of each type to start in a couple months). I got these varieties: Hardy Chicago, Salem Dark, Brooklyn Dark, Celeste, Sal's EL and Marseilles VS.