Tami, that layout looks great. How about some lessons for me in organization? LOL

To bad about the soil there. It is a similar situation here with the red clay. Amend, amend and amend some more.

Hey Mike, nice to hear your voice! I'm done ammending. When a whole truckload can disappear in 1 season that's just too much. I am seriously thinking raised beds like Pete suggested. Maybe some weed block fabric on the bottom. The roots can go through if they want but the good dirt will be stuck.

Tami,

What is the white material on top of the potting soil in the last photo?  Limestone?

Steve,
Yes, it's Home Depot pulverized limestone. Some want it in bigger granules but this was all I could find and it is working very well for me.

Hey Tami, good to see you posting again.  Home Depot, no way!  I looked all last summer and couldn't find it anywhere locally.....Home Depot, Lowe's, the bigger nurseries.  Do you still have the bag?  Can you post a photo of the bag if you have it or a close up of the limestome particles?  Thanks a bunch.

I'm sorry I don't have the bag but I did post it last fall. Look by the yard patio stone.

Tami,
A raised bed garden can be made very easily using the layered or Lasagna gardening method. Its constructed on any existing soil using a cardboard layer (my preference) or a newspaper layer on the bottom. Mulch, green manure, clippings and compost are added to the top of the raised bed, the same way decaying plant material (compost) is deposited naturally.
http://bloomington.in.gov/media/media/application/pdf/4905.pdf

https://organicgardeningnewsandinfo.wordpress.com/tag/layered-gardening/

Pete, I agree 100% and that's what I do for the vegetables but for the figs I am picturing more of a raised planter than a raised bed. I was thinking landscape timbers in a 2' x 2' box and probably 4 high for each tree. The tree can them feel free to expand when it hits the icky soil but I can still feed and be sure it's going where I want it to.

Do you think that would work?

I Think it'll work like a charm.  I did pretty much that for blackberries, and I would repeat for almost everything planted in the ground.  

Thanks Don. You should post pictures.

Tami,
If you were planning on moving the trees in the future or keeping it confined the tall raised bed / container should work fine, but the 2' x 2' size may be small for a fig tree in your Zone.

I was referring to creating a 5' x 5' bed or a 4' wide row that's 12" or so deep which would be more that adequate for young in ground fig trees. The yearly amendments would be added to the top and percolate down to the roots which would be established into the native soil.

I think you may be right but it might work at 2x2. I want them 4 timbers high so that would be about 16".
I'm going to have to lay it out and see it to really know what I'm talking about though.

If you're going to do the cardboard lasagne method I'd recommend buying some morels, drying them in a paper bag and adding the spores to the cardboard layer.  You don't often get morels to fruit that way but sometimes it works.

Bob, what's a morel?

A "Morel" is a mushroom that grows in the spring. You can find them in old apple orchards and in hardwood forest. I use to pick them but lately I've skipped the last couple of years because of the explosive population of ticks. You can't step foot in the woods without getting covered in them.

Thanks for the clarification Tony. Mushrooms are one of those things I have never been able to stand to eat. I want to like them and I should like them but I just don't. I might post pictures if I have another bloom though. The compost I buy comes from a mushroom farm and we do get mushrooms growing from time to time. I may have been throwing these away without even knowing it.

Pete, that may be good, why not? We eat them with cheese. My fig cuttings you sent are doing great and pictures will follow as soon as I get time for their photo shoot.