Hello there,

I am Stormy from rainy Belgium (zone 6 I am afraid) and I keep my figs in a greenhouse. So far my collection is still very modeste: one confirmed Col de Dame, one BT and one unknown green fig.
They are all kept in pots and do very well actually. Keeping them in an greenhouse allows to extend the season quite a bit off course resulting even in the very late Col de Dame ripening all of its fruit.
Here are some pics:

Unknown green fig early June

 

  

Col de dame figlets



  
 
Unknown fig ready to bud

 

Dwarf nectarine fantasia and peach babygold

 
 

Breba from unknown and BT

 

Welcome to the forum, Michels!  Those are very nice pictures.

Oeps, my signature should say Stormy, I changed that now.
Thanks, actually I love gardening now matter, figs is just one of my interests.
I have apples of different kinds, pears, plums,blueberries,black and red currants, raspberries,... and also grow part of the vegetables we need year round.
Here are some more pics:

   
 
 
 

AWESOME figs and veggies!!   and greenhouse of my dreams. 

Welcome! 

Agree with Soni.  AWESOME figs and veggies!  Very nice greenhouse.

Welcome, nice to see someone else from Belgium on this forum!

Thanks, it was a gift of my wife. Not sure she doesn't regret it by now, seems I spend to much time in there. :)
Anyway, in the open most of the figs, if not all, didn't ripen. I have tried to find out on the net what kind of fig the unknown one is, but still I don't know for sure.
Was guessing Marseille fig or something alike.

Next month I will stop by at a nursery, which is specialised in mediteranean plants an buy a few more, probably Negronne and Grise de St-Jean. I will try the Negronne outside but will definetely keep the GsJ in the greenhouse as it is pretty cold sensitive.

The Brown Turkey will be out this summer, I don't like the taste of the figs and to me it is all about taste.

Belgium lies in zone 6, our climat is caraterised as a moderate sea climate, I think pretty much as the PNW. Temps rarely go below -5 C in winter time, summers mostly are cool and can get wet. Heat spells may occur though, temps can go past 30 C for a few days, mostly followed by much cooler weather.
We see some change now in the climat: the winters are getting warmer and wetter, summers are becoming drier wit more frequent heat spells. Climat change...

I'm not sure if it's a Desert King, but it looks like a Desert King and it behaves like a Desert King (San Pedro type). I started a topic about the mother tree some time ago: http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/unknown-fig-tree-7566128?pid=1289388809

Welcome!  Your green house is beautiful!

Welcome to the forum!

Welcome and wow!! Your greenhouse is nice. That fig tree is pretty big. Nice job :-)!

It is not that big anymore now since I gave it a good trim, both branches and roots. That's what it needs every couple of years if you want to keep figs in pots and also to bring new vigor into the root system.
This is how it looks now with the roots trimmed. I have planted it again in a much bigger pot now.
 

Welcome to the forum. Nice greenhouse setup.

Yes beautiful figs and greenhouse.  IT is really inspiring to see how we can adapt to our climates with structures and practices that allow us our hearts desires with plants, food and connections.  Welcome and thank you for the great pictures.  Best from Arizona.  

It is, if the sun is missing, one needs to be a bit inventive and helps those poor figs out so they don't get cold.
As a matter of fact, I have mislabeled my zone as being 6, I live in a zone 8.

But the thing with plant hardiness zones is that it can be pretty confusing in terms of suitability for figs. 
Example: the most part of France lies in zone 8, like mine. Only the very southern part is zone 9 and a small portion is zone 7. This system is based solely on winter temperatures and doesn't take summer highs into account, nor the length of summer, amount of rain, overcast days, etc.

The city of Lyon lies in zone 8, most of the varieties described by Figues Baud, will prosper in that area. However, in my region only a few will thrive and will ripen their fruit, mostly only the breba crop.

In my climate it is not the winter temps which are decisive, because they rarely drop below -5 C, but often the lack of heat and sunshine which makes a certain variety less appropriate for this climate.

I agree the climate zones are pretty misleading. I'm in zone 8 also and we have 110' days the same day as a 60' nite! Really stressful for a lot of plants. It is a question of trying the plants out in your microclimate really. And I am dreaming of a greenhouse myself. Have you heard of the climate battery? The book "The Forest Garden Greenhouse" is really cool. Lots of great ideas and practical info. Best of luck with the growing things. ;-)

Never heard of any climate battery. Have noticed though some people are trying to build the ultimate greenhouse, allowing them to grow vegetables and fruit throughout the year. I guess it's all about retaining heat and creating a viable environment for plants. Must be a real challenge in boreal regions.
Mine is just a greenhouse, freezing temps are not really a challenge here. 

Welcome, very nice greenhouse. Looks great!

Hi Stormy,
Welcome to the forum ! Nice greenhouse indeed !
You can get the col de dame to ripen ... That's amazing !
That strain is not available here in my Zone7 ... because the fruit wouldn't ripen, in a standard year.

Welcome to the forum, Stormy... Your greenhouse is just wonderful and plants obviously flourishing! Your unknown fig tree is beautifully pruned, too. It looks almost as nice without leaves as it will fully decked out.
Thanks for sharing your inspiring photos with us :)

It's actually the first time I'm getting into this so I don't really know what the outcome is going to be.
Since I am replacing the old dirt and roots with new fresh soil, I'd expect it to be invogarating and bring new balance into the plant system. Because I also trimmed the branches quite heavily, roots and leaves have to be in balance you know, I also expect the fig to bud break much later. In fact there are no buds left on the plant now...
This is a variety that produces no breba or virtually none, so that part is covered I guess.

Typically I can eat the first figs in the first week of august and it continues to produce ripe figs until the end of september and they really taste jummy.

Thank you Lilly. Discovered this weekend that the buds on my other figs, a BT and the col de Dame, are showing the first signs of swelling! Curious to find out, if this trend is continuing, how this will affect the crop of this year and more importantly how I can avoid any negative temps that would eventually still set in later on.
Thus far, the first of march has been the earliest date I noticed spring had arrived in my greenhouse!

I see new interested Fig Varriity;
-Palmata Variity
-Wild Figs from Asia and Kaukasus
-Kultur Figs from Xingjiang
-Kultur Figs from Afghanistan.

Kultur Figs from Afghanistan very Winterhard and very beautifull. I have beginn with the Selection from new Varrietys. In 4 Years i can more say about this Projekt.

I buy the dried Fruit from Pamir Import in Hamburg. i eat the small Fruit and make from the Seeds from the big Fruit Seedlings. The biggest Seedling from the last Sommer are 40 cm hight.

Hi Paul,
Fabulous, would be wonderful if these work out in our conditions. Roughly, how far away are you from Brussels? I have been in Afghanistan myself in 2009, but at that time I wasn't a figgy just yet so I didn't pay attention to local varieties. But my guess is, since the climate can be harsh over there, they most be pretty hardy.
I remember the temps in Kabul would get to a scorching 40 C day over and drop to just 15 C at night. In summer it hardly ever rains and winters can be cold with freezing temps for weeks.