After getting clearance from the county official, I planted today a fig tree at the community garden. It is a Texas Ever bearing, the first of a series of fig/fruit trees that I intend to plant there.
I would like to thank everyone that contributed and continue to contribute a wealth of information to this and other forums, that in some part made this little project possible.

Awesome, way to go Sas! 

The world gets a little bit better every time a fig tree gets planted  :)

Very nice, Sas! Looks like a great start.

Must fill good to spread your collection to the public! Lol its a very nice looing tree. Do you get to take care of it or does the city nanage the garden ?

The community garden is for residents who are mainly interested in planting vegetables. The county leases a 5x10 ft spaces. So I plant my tomatoes or cucumbers and they say that you have to contribute 10% of your crop to charity.
They had a memorial orchard with about 40 young fruit trees but no figs among other kinds of fruit. So I thought that since I have many fig trees mainly in pots that I was growing for another project, why not do something that someday might benefit the community too.

After obtaining permission, I took my shovel today and started by planting my first tree. The good thing about this also is that I have access to water close by. I hope to be documenting this project as it develops.

This community garden has been around since the 1800's. I just found out that another community garden downtown Austin just got sold to a developer. I hope that this one will be here a long time after I'm gone.

The county maintains the grounds etc...I will probably keep an eye on these trees for a while. Once they take off they probably won't need me.

Initially I'm going to use 8ft spacing and take it from there.

I love to hear about things like this.  We all should spread our abundance around to others. Good Job Sas :)

I am going to contack our,community playground and picnic area. I fig tree,would be nice. Great work sas.

I wish to thank all those who posted and will be posting positive messages about their thoughts and ideas about contributing to their local community.

Sas. Just 5hink how long a fig tree lives. 100 years from now people will ve eating from it and taking home cuttings

Congratulations, Sas! I think we need to do this sort of thing more often. I work at UCI and in the last couple of years i have seen many shrubs & trees being replaced by edible trees--mainly orange trees but I think its great. Also a few years ago, Los Angeles got its first fruit park. Who doesnt like a good fig, right?!

http://www.lamag.com/digestblog/the-first-public-fruit-park-in-california-opens/

http://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/urban-gardening-movement-keeps-growing-city-council-oks-edible-plants-l-parkways/

Nice job!

Meg, great articles. Love this quotation: "Come take my food.’ It’s for everyone".
Alan, Richie and others, if you inquire, let us know what you find out.

Day two:

8ft might be too close! I guess I'll worry about it if someone complains.
These new three fig trees are unknowns. I know what they might be but hate to guess at this point.

I managed to go back to the community garden today and check on the fig trees that I planted around May of 2016.
I initially gave these trees water almost on a weekly basis last summer, but stopped watering after the fall and have not watered since then.
All of them lost their original structure and died to the ground, but new growth looks robust. The one that looks to be the most in trouble (last photo) is probably an FMV infested petit Negri that I originally purchased from a nursery, but remains alive.
I'm seeing the same thing occur with my unmaintained trees at my wildlife property. Initial loss of the whole tree regardless of age then new growth from ground level.
The real question is, how long is it going to take those trees to adapt to their relatively new environment and start really growing? Based on my backyard experience, I'm guessing at least around five years.
In any case, I can confirm that fig trees in pot behave totally differently than in ground. As an example, I don't think that my trees in pot would've made it that long without any water to say the least.
















greenshot

Great thing you are doing there Sas! Hopefully you will keep us updated on when they fruit after the die back. Love to see their progress over the years too.

What a wonderful tradition your community has in this communal garden.

Great Job, Sas! Very nice of you to do this! Will be something to see when the trees really get bigger! : )

Thanks Wendy & Frank.

Went back today, cut out the dead wood and added some mulch. It was 85+ degrees.