While going through a folder of old photographs recently, I came across a picture of some beautiful figs—the very ones I had used for a fig tart. Seeing that photograph brought back more than just memories of a delicious tart. It reminded me of a little gardening dream I had put aside: growing my own fig tree for my Andalusian garden in Spain.
A couple of years before moving to our new home in Vienna, I had intended to plant a fig tree in our old garden. In Andalusia, Figs are everywhere. You see them growing along the coast, in private gardens, in orchards, and even along the roadsides. They seem perfectly at home in the Mediterranean climate, basking in the warm sunshine and thriving with surprisingly little fuss.
I have particularly fond memories of stopping the car to pick wild figs from a mountain roadside. They were ripe, sweet, and wonderfully rustic—the kind of fruit that makes you want to take them home and turn them into something special. On that particular occasion, they eventually found their way into the fig tart I was planning to bake. So when that old photograph appeared on my screen, it stirred something in me. I still wanted to grow a fig tree. There was, however, one small problem…
I had moved.
Six years ago, we left our old house, where we had a garden with apple and peach trees, and moved into a home where my gardening space is limited to a balcony. At first, that might seem like the end of the dream. But I have always enjoyed growing things in containers. In our old home, I grew vegetables and berries in pots on the upstairs terrace, so the lack of a traditional garden doesn't necessarily mean I have to give up on growing fruit.
And, as it turns out, I had already seen fig trees growing successfully in our neighbourhood. That gave me hope.
I believe the variety I have seen can tolerate colder climates, which means there is a chance I can grow one here too. So, the other day, I went exploring at the garden centre—and there it was. A young fig tree waiting for a new home. I asked the gardener about it, and he confirmed that it was a winter-hardy variety.
Sold!
For now, my little fig tree will be growing in a container on the balcony. My original idea had actually been to grow a fig bonsai. Fig trees can make beautiful bonsai specimens, particularly when they develop that wonderfully aged, textured bark. But I couldn't find an older tree suitable for starting the process, so I decided to take a different approach.
I will let this little tree grow slowly, pruning and shaping it along the way, with the hope of eventually creating a small, naturally dwarfed fig tree that will be happy in its container. It may take a few years, but I don't mind.
It is the fun and satisfying feeling of growing a tree slowly and watching it change with the seasons. Who knows that one day I'll be sitting on the balcony, looking at a mature little fig tree, and remembering the wild figs I once picked from a mountain roadside in Andalusia.
And perhaps, if all goes well, I'll even be able to pick a few figs of my own and make another tart just like the one I baked below.
@mers