Finally, after a long hard Winter, the warm to hot Summer days are upon us. Only a few more days until we get to sample a few of our figs. The Conandria is starting to droop! and is soft to the touch. Supposed to be hot next two days, then rain on Wednesday. I think a Tuesday afternoon treat it shall be.

Are yours in pots? Did they get a head start inside?

Hey Gene

Those pictured are in pots that I overwintered in our minimally heated enclosed sunroom. This is a bright room, but very cold in winter. I gave them drinks throughout winter storage. Once it was well past the last frost date they were placed outside. Fertilized the first few times wih Miracle Grow, now on a drip irrigation system

I attached a pix of what they looked like when first placed out.

Looks great, Mark.  I look forward to posting a similar picture in the upcoming weeks.

Great Frank, these next few days here going to be pretty hot. Should really help bring the taste out and figs ready to eat!

Mark,

Looks great.  Good to hear from another MD'er.  Are you planning on putting any of your figs in ground at some point, or will you leave them in pots?

Thanks for posting this Mark, they look great. I have brebas on Negronne and Conandria that also look like they are going to be ready in the next week or so

Greetings

Really nice and hot these last few days, today was a scorcher with heat index well over 100. Was out early to ensure all the figs in pots were well watered and the drip irrigation system operational! Just sampled our first fully ripened fig for 2014 - the Madeline d' Deux. My wife and I shared - both agreed that it a nice melony flavor, a bit sweet, not over powering. A tad on the watery side. That said, we picked it 'cause the ants had already decided it was sweet enough to their taste.

@Malcolm, as far as figs in ground, I have about five or six in-ground now. Four Hardy Chicago and two Celeste. After this past Winter, I don't plan on putting any more in ground. My potted ones over-wintered so well, leafed out nicely and are putting out figs like crazy. It's taking the in ground ones a LOT longer to get going, luckily they all survived. Mind you, I spent a lot of time as well prepping them for winter. No more in ground here! A lot easier to haul them in in the Fall, and haul them out in late Spring.

Negronne continues to look better and better every day. Can't wait to sample in a few more days!

Mark.,
Those of us around DC should get together. I'll host if you guys travell/ I might have as many as 100+ varieties we can taste.
What do ya think?

Mike,

Sounds like a good idea. There are a lot of us here in the greater DC area for sure. Steve in Rockville and I were speaking about something like this last year.

I'm interested. Live about 20 from the nation's capitol. Ooh could we do a fig swap? You know, like if we have extras of something or cuttings?...
Either way I'd love to taste something fresh.

Michael, yes I'm definitely interested - sounds like a good time.  I should be able to bring a few figs from my own trees if I can solve my critter problem.  (I now have a critter that chews through organza bags and severely bends the limbs of my trees -racoons?  May need to look into Dennis' method.)

Mark, looks like your figs are doing well.  Funny that you have 6 in-ground trees representing just 2 varieties.  I go for the variety and don't have more than one of any cultivar.  Of course, I might lose a variety forever this way but most, if not all, can be replaced with a little help from my friends.

How are y'all getting main crops ripening so early?  In Texas, I've got lots of figs, but nothing looks near to ripe yet.  They'll probably all ripen when I'm gone on vacation in August.

Wow James, I'm surprised that your Texas location and Zone 8a doesn't produce an earlier batch of figs. Seems like it sure has been warm enough out there so far this year. Your getting enough water and sunshine, right?

Steve, yes only two varieties in-ground, but you have to remember our entire deck is covered with potted types of many many varieties. I really need to go out and write them all down and make sure the tags are legible. I noticed on some of my older tags that the names are starting to fade. The multiple HC in my fig hedge were part of my air-layer experiment. So, I had free extras to play around with without the worry of losing a valuable one. We still continue to enjoy the taste of a fully ripened dark HC, so extras of these are a good thing.

Will be picking first Negronne today, can't wait! Pix to follow.

Michael/Mark- I would be interested in something like what you guys are talking about depending on when it is, I will hopefully have some figs that I could bring

James, I'm pretty sure these Maryland figs are brebas rather than main crop.  I've had a few brebas but the main crop is not even close yet.

Happy 4 July

.....and we have a winner. We just sampled several of the Negronne, and these have to be close if not the best we've ever had the pleasure to sample. Luscious sweet strawberry taste, almost strawberry jam like. 5 stars rating here.

Hopefully this collage captures the look, I can't capture the flavor!

Beautiful collage! Those figs look so juicy and flavorful and it's making my mouth water, I can only imagine the taste :) thanks for sharing

Conadria is next, after lunch......

Way to go Mark!

Yes, the Negronne brebas look great.  This makes me even more pissed that my yard was raided by what I think is a raccoon.  I found the organza bag from my VdB on the ground with several teeth marks and a crushed fig inside.  The limbs were splayed out nearly to the breaking point.  This was only my 2nd ripe fig in the back yard this season and I'm already getting raided.  Drastic action may be needed.

Steve, seems like we are always battling SOMETHING! Cold freezing Winter, heavy rains, cold Spring, wood borers, birds, ants, racoons, moles and voles! I guess that's why they taste so good when we get to actually taste one! You will have to set up camp in your garden!

So, ended up picking a total of nine Negronne this morning. We gobbled up the first three :-). The six others I washed up and we'll have later. I did weigh them - right at 210 grams of pure joy. Not too bad for my first harvest of the season.