Hello everyone! I'll start by telling you who I am, where I live and what zone I'm in. My name is Mare, I live in Enumclaw Washington in zone 7b. Last year for my birthday, my husband took me to Raintree Nursery. He bought me a Desert King, a Lattarula, Black Turkey and Peter's honey. They came in one gallon pots and I put them in larger pots for the summer. I brought them into the garage for the winter, which was mild. They did not go dormant, instead they grew more shoots and began to leaf out in January. Anyway, they are currently still in the pots and I want to plant them - any advice on prepping soil, etc.? The soil in our yard has more clay than loose soil. Also, there aren't any figs developing, and there are these little (about 1/4 inch long) green bugs that hop from plant to plant and eat the leaves. Any advice or help will be greatly appreciated. I LOVE figs and I really want them to grow.

Thank-You!!!

Let me be the first to welcome you to our little part of the world.  As to your planting, I can't help other than to suggest you watch for some of our Washington members and ask them.

Hi Mare and welcome! We moved down here from Kirkland! I would mix pine needles into your soil with compost and a little lime and they should take off. A healthy dose of composted manure would be great as well. (That's my organic receipe) lol

You can either dig out the hole and mix that soil or just dig a hole and backfill with a mixture. Even the clay in Washington seems better than the soil I run into here!

dig a big hole, about 2x the depth of your root ball, and 3x wide. mix half the soil you pulled out with half of some soil conditional.. like what tami said above. put them in ground and hope it doesn't rain too much. problem with clay soil is, it can create what some people call clay jar. it will trap water and if water doesn't drain fast enough.. roots will start to rot sitting in the standing water. one of the reason why i keep all my trees in containers. 

The advice has been dealt, just wanted to welcome you from Maple Valley!

Do a drainage test to find out whether you will get the clay jar Pete mentioned or not. To do this you dig a hole about 18 inches deep, it doesn't have to be really wide, just wide enough to dig to the depth your trying to get to. Get most the loose soil out and then take a garden hose and fill the hole with water. Then you check it every 15 minutes to see how long it takes the water to disappear.  Obviously if you get past the first few checks and the water isn't going away very fast you would extend the time intervals to 30 minutes or an hour or....
The point is, if it takes a really long time for the water to completely disappear, then you may want to think about making a raised box/bed/mound or something similar filled with a soil that drains. Then your tree can send some roots down into the native ground yet still have some up where they aren't soaking and can get some air when it rains.

Welcome Mare , good luck with your trees!

Thank-you everyone for all of your great advice!

I think I'll try the drainage test first. We may have a higher water table in some parts of our yard...

BTY, did all of you get your figs as actual trees (with branches and all), or did you get them in small pots, a single 'stem' attached to a bamboo stake? that's how mine were, and now I'm just getting more shoots coming out of the bottom, but no branching from the main 'stem'. Should I cut away all the new gangly growth or are they supposed to do that?

It all depends on your preference. If you want a proper tree cut off the ganglies as they come, if you want a bush leave them on. Wait for the main stem to get as tall as you want it then pinch off the terminal bud to get it to branch.

We have all bought trees but I think most of our collections we have started as scion. Have a look at all the introductory info at the top of the list. You will learn a ton.

Welcome!  Another way to avoid the clay jar is to stick your shovel in to the bottom and sides of the hole, lever a crack open and fill the crack with peat moss, leaves, grass clippings, etc.  You want it to be things worms will eat.  Once the tree is planted cover the hole with mulch.  Over the years worms will be attracted to the food and till your soil for you and you'll eventually have great soil.  If you can't pass the drain test leave your plants in pots or raised beds and do what they told you above anyway.   When the soil is good then you can plant other things there.

As far as the green bugs, a photo might help.  Spraying with safer soap often helps.  Some like neem oil.  Eventually the leaves get so tough that the number of things willing to eat them decreases.