So I was sitting around looking at the fig trees Ive got all potted up -- wanted to be able to move them around, drop some off at my school (thus hiding them from She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed, and Little-She-Who-Sees-All-And-Tells-All), etc etc and then I thought that it would be a cool idea to interplant these trees with various herbs such as parsley, thyme, sage, ... you get it.  

It'd save some space, look nice (I think) and open up some more floor space on the patio and in the garden for ... more figs... and pomegranates, and... so forth.

Anyone do this?  How has it worked out?  Any disadvantages to this?

One concern I have is that I got some wonderful information from Joe Morle and one thing he recommends is putting lime chips as a top dressing in the pot... I was going to experiment with that next year.

I have basil growing around the top of the pot of one of my figs.  Kind of like mulch.  It's worked out well for me so far this year; both basil and fig have done nicely.  I have no lime chips on top.

I have tried a few different herbs in some of my largest fig pots. It works ok, but as the figs get bigger and fill the pots with roots the herbs seems to suffer. If you try it look for herbs that typicly like it on the dry side, so that they don't compete with the fig for water. It can get very hard to keep your tree and thirsty herbs from drying out in the dog days of summer. Here are the ones I have tried.
Parsley - takes way too much water, set fruit production back.
Basil - can be very thirsty, but the smaller ones like spicy globe and Greek can work
Thyme - has done well
Rosemary - did well at first, but may not do well with a pot bound fig
Oregano - a good choice
Greek mountain tea - first year, but doing well

I won't claim it is optimal for either the herbs or figs, but a prostrate rosemary or an oregano sure look great spilling out of the big potted trees on my front porch.

I usually plant herbs, mostly chives and thyme, around my (in ground) fruits to discourage critters. Can't say it really works either way, but there's always fresh herbs if I need it.

I just Googled "fig companion plants" and came upon this thread from a couple years ago: http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/companion-plants-for-fig-trees-6389445

I grow a crop of Bloomsdale spinach and Buttercrunch lettuce underneath and around my figs when they go dormant and lose their leaves.

:) Didnt think about lettuces and such...and this is the only time we can grow such things down here...

The salad bowl experiment is about to start :)

Now, a question...  If I am growing salad greens, say, and choose to fertilize them (miracle grow or a low strength organic liquid fertilizer/worm castings tea, etc) would the fertilizer affect the fig trees in  a negative way during their period of dormancy?

Hey James - check out the "got wasps" thread... I think it was you who had the idea of starting a wasp colony, correct?

James

I killed a loquat tree by planting it with herbs since the herb was sucking all the nutrients and water from the tree.
Giving each plant respect and its own space is good especially for a small confined space as pots.

funny thing- I am re- using soil from different plants and yesterday i noticed an esperagus growing near my RDB trunk :)

Nasturtiums planted around one of my figs added some nice color and foliage to the pot.   Companion planting in pots can be a bit tricky accounting for the needs of different plants, might be more appropriate for in-ground plants...perhaps subject for another thread, but are you familiar with the permaculture concept of plant guilds?
Here's an excerpt from Gaia's Garden, a great introductory book on permaculture practices in the garden.

http://books.google.com/books?id=gxW0MGXha6cC&pg=PA186&lpg=PA186&dq=apple+guild+gaia's+garden&source=bl&ots=w0pie03hVd&sig=4tUpJ4DkLompMM8x_9_XEqCjFwA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=VCqAVJi3Nsu_ggSp04CoAg&ved=0CCAQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=apple%20guild%20gaia's%20garden&f=false

James (NativeSun),
  Check for posts from Grasa within the last year (or even 6 months) -- she reported on some companion planting she did with her figs.  She used a type of clover, if I recall.
Jim

I'm not sure about potted plants. As mentioned in Andy's post, figs like to take over everything with their roots. But my grandma has always planted mint with her figs that are in-ground. I've done the same and it seems to be working just fine!

Don, Any idea why mint?

Thanks for all of the input! Ive been thinking more of annuals than perennials , but yes figs can be greedy.

@zone5 -- Ive heard of it, and integrated some of its apsects (hugelkulture) into my in-ground garden; the link is chock-full of information. Thank you! The Nasturniums must be beautiful planted that way ... Ive got one but cant help from eating the flowers!

@ needaclone - I will look that up, thanks!

Thanks Don. I had been debating if I could plant a tree in my mint patch. Sounds like the mint won't be an issue (the cold on the other hand).