Hi everyone.  For years I have grown blueberries, raspberries, and bush cherries in a hedge with great success.

Our soil here is relatively poor in many areas (mostly rock hard red clay) so what I do is double-dig a long trench about 4 feet wide, work in as much peat moss, compost, and other organic matter as I can get, and then plant the bushes so that they will form a hedge at maturity.

The advantages include efficient use of land area, maximum fruit production in that area, and ease of mowing, weeding, and picking (you just go up and down each side of the hedge and you're done).  The blueberry, raspberry, and cherry hedges are rows inside the orchard, but the fig hedge will be a perimeter hedge (that's all that's left for planting in the orchard).

Disadvantages include that figs are not evergreen, but in the location this really isn't an issue.

The biggest advantage is that this gives us a LOT of room for new figs.

So I'm already working on my wish list for next season.

Hope everyone is well and best wishes to all.

John
North Georgia Piedmont
Zone 7b

Sounds like a very interesting approach. What sort of spacing will you have between fig trees, and how wide & tall do you envision your hedge at maturity?

Hi Ken.  I have all winter to think about.  I will be digging the bed this winter (the best time for any heavy work in the South), and setting out the fig trees in the early Spring.  But I am thinking about 3-4 feet apart.  And then keep the hedge pruned to about 4-5 feet wide and 5-6 feet tall.  That's pretty much what we have done with the Blueberry and Cherry hedges.

It's tight spacing but that also means weeds between generally get shaded out.

Hopefully it will work out nicely, like the other fruit hedges, but even if it doesn't you just replant and try again. 

Gardening isn't like parachuting.  Even if you have a disaster, you still get to try again.

Hope all is well with you.

Best wishes.

John
North Georgia Piedmont
Zone 7b

P.S. Ken: I was thinking about you this weekend, when we had a snake drama.  I hadn't seen a snake at our house in over 10 years, then a rat snake showed up and got under the house through a crack near the foundation vent.  Nothing $200 couldn't fix though, and as a snake-a-phobe, it was worth every penny to bring in a pro.  And he had a heck of a time getting him out.  Those are constricters and he was wrapped in there good.  But fortunately he was safely removed unharmed and relocated far, far away.

Let's hope it's a another 10 years or more before we see another one.  And we are getting a contractor to assure that there are no more cracks or openings that they could use to get in, and making sure there are no rats, mice, etc., to attract them.

So enough about the snakes already!  ;-)

I'm creeping myself out just thinking about it.

Best wishes.

John

Glad the drama ended well for everybody--you, the snake, and whoever got the $200!

Thanks for the hedge idea. It might have an application in my yard, but I'll need time to really mull it over. I've long been of the opinion that if my trees were close enough together that their watering basins were essentially just narrow dikes between the trees, that it would be a more efficient use of water because each tree's roots could extend under the adjacent basin for a "borrowed" drink. My current situation is an expanse of totally dry, scorched earth outside the driplines. If I could contour the land so as to direct storm run-off into these contiguous basins, I could also probably harvest quite a bit of water during our summer "monsoon" season.

Laying out my nascent fig "orchard" as a pair of parallel hedges might allow me to surround it all with a low, wire fence and then efficiently cover the whole shebang with bird netting. With a narrow walkway up the middle (inside the netting) I'd have good access for whatever fussing with them I feel like doing, and by clipping the netting to the top of the perimeter fence I could easily raise it to harvest any fruit I can't reach from inside.

Having the trees that close together might also eventually create a favorable microclimate with somewhat higher humidity, cooler, shaded soil, and a bit of a windbreak for the inside foliage. It might also make them much easier to cover for frost protection.

Sounds like a great plan Ken.  One of the great things about a forum like this is that someone can take a general idea and make an even better mouse trap for their situation.  That would be a pretty efficient and impressive set up I would think.

I have about an 8 foot test run hedge going this year, and I am also using it to put in random cuttings in the open areas between planted figs for new trees, so while the permanent trees are growing it is also doubling as a new tree nursury as well.

And I miss my $200.  But I don't miss the snake.  I'm pretty sure the guy who helped us out liked the snake about as well as the $200.  He seemed very happy to have it and relocate it to his property (a safe 30 miles away).  It was certainly an impressive critter by local standards, so I hope they are very happy together.

Stay well my friend.

John
North Georgia Piedmont
Zone 7b

P.S. To water our fruit hedges, I leave a soaker hose running down the length of the hedge and just connect and water as needed.  It's efficient for both labor and water.

That would make for an easy job. I'm still trying to work out the best way to water my stuff. The only way they really seam to thrive is flooding the basins.

The Fig Hedge Project is moving full speed ahead now.

The trees were cleared this winter (huge job), and now it's just 150 feet of rotatilled dirt, but as soon as I get the trees in I will post a picture.

Best wishes to all.

John

we don't get intermediary pics?!

Hi Jason.  I can do that.  I just wasn't sure anyone wanted to see the bare dirt, etc.  Even the planted twigs will be a little less than spectacular, to say the least, but maybe it would be nice to document the process.

Based on the progress from the test bed last summer though, by the end of the summer it should start looking pretty good.

Hope you are well my friend.

Best wishes.

John

I love it, you know why?

You get to see the before, during and after.  You get a full picture of the story.  Later on, you can sit back and see what it was and how it became the glory that it is.  If it doesn't work out, you can see the process and figure out ways to refine it.

Here are pictures of phase 1: Clearing the trees:

I am very happy to share Jason, and even more happy that at least one person is interested!  ;-)

I do everything as naturally and organically as possible.  I'm not Amish, but grew up around the Amish.

I cleared most of the trees by hand, but have to confess that towards the end, a friend with a chain saw took pity on the old man with the hand saw and a row of trees!  ;-)

I did break down and get a rotatiller though.  I could dig with a shovel up by the Great Lakes (where we had many, many feet of top soil over peat moss), but this hard Georgia clay (and 20 years later) required a rotatiller.

I am amending the soil with lots of peat moss, some wood ash (from the cleared trees), ground alfalfa meal, kelp, and fish meal.  Then topping it with straw (to deter weeds), lots more peat moss, some top quality potting soil, and pine bark mini nuggets on top.

Then I will go down the row and plant, light figs on the North end, dark figs on the South end (because these will have to be netted together).  And run a soaker hose down the whole row.

Once this is done, it will be lots of figs, with not lots of work!

Best wishes.

John

I also added ground crab shells, ground shrimp shells, and lime to help balance the PH.

Lots of work John, but it sounds like it will be well worth the effort! Thanks for posting the photos.

Hi John,

You GO, Guy!  You have some good ideas, there.

noss

John,

I too am interested in watching the fig hedge evolve. Keep posting photos. I think I recall seeing a couple of those in another of your post. Thanks to you, I started a fig hedge also.

JD

Thanks Noss.  I will keep everyone posted on the progress, what works well, what didn't, and in this way by everyone sharing ideas and experiences, fig growing for everyone can be improved.

And hi JD.  Hope the fig hedge works well for you too.

I was pretty sure I had posted those pictures from last fall already, but since I didn't see them on this thread I posted them here.

I finished up the fig bed yesterday.  I will take a picture Sunday before I start planting, and post a photo of the bed, then a photo of it planted, and later this summer, the results of growth in year one.

It should work just fine though, because I have been growing blueberries and bush cherries like this for years successfully.  Using the hedge means less weeds (the hedge form shades out the weeds underneath pretty well). no mowing around each plant (just a straight shot mowing each side), easier and more efficient watering (just run a soaker hose down the length of the hedge), and easy picking just by walking down one side and up the other.

Best wishes to all.

John

PROJECT UPDATE:

So far I have:

1) Cleared trees
2) Shortened stumps to the ground and innoculated stumps with mushroom spores
3) Rotatilled
4) And liad down a layer of straw, topped with tons of peat moss (a whole palet; 35 large bails); pine bark fines and lime (to balance some of the acidity).

I am going to start planting the figs, and then top it with a nice layer of pine bark mini-nuggets for a nice finished look, and put down a drip irrigation line (the whole hedge is about 150 feet).

Hi John:Once your trees are established in ground,by next year I doubt you will need to water them,during Summer.
I would say water only if the tree droops leaves in down position,otherwise ,do not,so the trees grow roots far and deep,which will make them more winter hardy and productive.

Thanks Herman.  Very good advice.  This makes sense, and this is what I will do.

I planted about half of the figs today, and hope to finish up soon.

I will keep everyone posted.

Hope you are well my friend.

Very best wishes.

John

John

I wonder what would happen if you took multiple varieties and merged them together like that.  What would the end result be? 

The result looks funky. Check out

The Fig Hedge is Done!

The figs are planted now, the soaker hose is installed, and the whole thing is covered with several inches of additional mulch.

Not much to look at yet, but in a few months all the figs should be up nicely and I will post a picture.