Hello everyone, I'm a new member. Perhaps this has been discussed before but maybe you can help me out by answering a few questions I have. First I will tell you about myself/area.

In the past couple years my husband and I have been really into organic gardening and homesteading. We want to be as self sufficient as possible. We have creating lots of gardening space, and started planting fruit trees. So far we are having good success with our apple tree, pear tree, peach tree, and cherry tree (this is the first year the peach will produce fruit!) 
This year I am adding a few more additions to my edible landscape :) One of which is a fig tree! I try to make sure I research as much as possible prior to buying any plant to ensure I am able to help it grow... I am not totally lost on the fig tree but some people are confusing me slightly.

I decided to purchase a Chicago Fig tree :) From reading about it, it seems to be one of the cold hardiest fig trees around tolerating zones 5-9. My husband works with a man who has Italian background (this plant is very popular with Italians) He grew up in BC Canada and said his family grew a lot of figs, but he says they require digging up every year to bury during the cold months. If I'm not mistaken, southern areas of BC can get up to growing zones 7, which is one of the warmest canadian climates apart from mine. I live in an area of Niagara which is growing zone 6B. According to my research  this fig can overwinter in zones 5. My peach tree is a zone 5, and I have not had any problems growing this tree. My plan was to grow the fig tree close to the house foundation as well, out of wind, in hopes to add some extra degrees of warmth during winter (possibly upping the growing zone)

I guess my question really is... Should I be able to do this? Can it grow outside all year long once its a bit larger?... I also seen on a thread on here (trying to google this) That a lot of Ontarians do the same (dig it up). I apologize if this is a repeated thread, and i will gladly go to any links anyone sends me. Thanks everyone!

my peach tree is also growing zones 5-9.

Welcome!  We have several members here from Canada so hopefully they will chime in.  The Chicago fig you referenced is called Hardy Chicago.  It should grow fine for you but I'll let others living in your state respond to that.  There are a few others just as hardy.  Danny's Delite, Florea, Desert King are just a few that I can think of.  However, whatever fig tree you choose, you will have to perform some type of winterization so keep that in mind.  Up in the top right corner of this page is a search option.  Search for those I mentioned and read away.  Also on the top of this page is some basic information on growing figs and climate.

Again, welcome--- and don't let some of the negative talk here run you off.  It's a forum and all have good and bad.  This one is no different!  Enjoy the ride!

HOW BOUT THOSE FIGS!!!!!!

Okay thank you!

I will read some more info from this forum, thanks for pointing me in the right direction. hopefully some other Southern Canadians will give me their 2 cents!

Hi,
Welcome to the forum !
I live in Zone7, and winter is hard on figtrees some years. So in Zone6, you should either bury the tree or overwinter it in a garage ( you keep it in a big pot like 80Liters /  20 gallons).
This year I've lost no trees but some in smaller pots . But I lost stems on the in ground trees, and that means less figs this year.
In Zone 6, you should look for figtrees with a breba crop.
Good luck !

Welcome! From what I have read, Chicago Hardy will die to the ground during the winter in your zone, and then come back (hopefully) from the roots.

Fig trees come back from buried wood, not the roots. I'm in Z6 and have a 25 yr old in ground Hardy Chicago.  After it out grew a 5 gal pot I planted it in the ground, burying as much wood as I could.  When it's fully dormant I cut off everything above ground.  Next spring it makes branches from buried nodes and bears fruit in late July to early August depending on the year.  You might be able to protect the trunk and have it survive but I've only tried that once with a tarp and it didn't work.  Burying the whole tree should work but that's more than I can do.  Mine grows back as a bush.

You're going to find peaches near impossible to grow organically. Expect them to be attacked by the plum curcullo this year. Sometimes it takes a few years for them to find you, hope so so you can enjoy some. Brown rot is even worse. You can foil the PC with Surround kaolin clay, but brown rot, nothing but synthetic fungicides work. It takes about 5 years to establish too, so you may be fine for a bit. Once there it will come back every year.

Hey everyone! Thanks so much for all your responses! I find forums really help for everything... I'm part of forums for most of my homesteading stuff, and I love hearing other people's advice/experience. 

As far as my fig tree its only 1.5 ft tall, so its probably a newly grown tree. I probably will keep it in a pot for quite some time (maybe forever?) 

Funny how we can trick a plant meant for tropical climates to survive in ours. Looking forward to having some delicious figs!

Hi,
For the peach tree, cook some eggs and keep the shells. You can fold them together if you break the eggs by the middle.
Put an iron tie through the eggs and hang that on your peach trees.
You can sprinkle lime on the trunk and around your tree. For the price... give it a try.
Did you think about planting an Apricot-tree ?
The problem with peaches is you can't make jam with them... So in case of a bumper crop ... What to do with so many fruits ...  ?
I had the case ... So, trying apricots now ...