Maybe, possibly your Fig Tree is still alive

This winter was disastrously cold and one plant that is still showing signs of it are fig trees My neighbor has a huge fig tree that is taller than my (and his) 2 story house and it has JUST this week decided to attempt to leaf out. It will be interesting to see how much of it does leaf out.


Notice how sparse the leaves are so far. A couple here and there. I'm

wondering if the light colored branches are in fact dead as a door nail.

This morning my friend Rita emailed me telling me the status of  her two figs. Her fig trees are only 1 year old and therefore more twiggy than big like my neighbors tree.  One shows signs of leafing out and the other is still..... waiting.....  thinking.... maybe..... going to leaf out.

Walter Reeves was asked about figs being slow to leaf out this year in his column in the Atlanta Journal Constitution several weeks ago. His reply was - wait until the end of May to see if the figs really are going to come back or not. There was also a post about figs not leafing out on the Cobb County Extension Blog  Figs Slow to Leaf Out?  It has links to various publications and websites that talk about figs in Georgia and the southeast.

It will definitely be interesting to see what DOES happen with the figs this year. The next questions are - Is there even going to be any fruit if they do leaf out? And the 2nd question is -how much of the plant will leaf out?

Grafting Fruit Trees Class

Are you interested in growing fruit trees but have limited space to raise different cultivars?

Come to the class that Master Gardener Eddie Rhoades will be presenting on Saturday April 12 from 10:30 to 11:30 at the orchard behind the Green Meadows Community Garden.

Eddie is a master at grafting different cultivars on one "parent" tree. Persimmon, pear, peach and apple are just a few of the  fruit trees he has grafted multiple cultivars onto.

Where:
Green Meadows Preserve Community Garden
3780 Dallas Highway
Powder Springs, GA 30127
  (The garden is at the intersection of Old Hamilton and Dallas Highway, near The Avenues of West Cobb. Look for the white house on the corner with a sign out front that says Green Meadows Preserve)

When:
Saturday, April 12, 2014
10:30 to 11:30 am

Pruning the Fruit Trees

Carol is teaching them the correct way to prune fruit trees. Right now she is working on a fig.
 All participants got a chance to prune a tree.

Fruits in the Future

Green Meadows Preserve now has an Orchard!

Last Saturday (March 9th) we had a wonderful morning planting several types of fruiting trees. The morning was a bit chilly and sunny but we had plenty of smiling faces.

Gopher Holes!

Green Meadows Gardeners and Master Gardeners came out to participate in the early morning fun. Many hands made light work of this project.

Rusty Simpson, Cobb County Parks and Recreation Unit Manager along with Jimmy Barnett and his associates were on hand early  and completed a large part of the work prior to the early morning start time.

The holes for the new orchard had been dug a few days prior and the trees were set near their prospective holes by Cobb Parks and Recreation staff. 


Water crystal packs and dirt were placed in the holes and and the mulch was crowned around the trunks of the trees. Water wells were placed around each of the trees for later watering. (Water wells are also known as Gator Bags and provide reservoirs of water to help get the trees established during their first year.)

The trees might or might not produce fruit this year but the exciting start will be the fun colors of spring blooms we will have in a month or so.

 
The new Green Meadows Orchard consists of:

•  4 figs
•  3 Bartlett Pears
•  2 Shinseiki Asian Pears
•  1 Red Delicious Apple
•  1 Golden Delicious Apple
•  3 Macintosh Apples
•  4 Green Gage Plums  
•  4 French Prune Plums

What a nice addition to Green Meadows Preserve! It will be fun to see how the trees grow and learn more about taking care of fruit trees.