I will be the first to admit, I have a brown thumb. I bring plants in, they look at me...and they die. So whenever I have something growing that lasts more than a month, I'm thrilled. My fig tree is above and beyond the usual for me because I've had it for a couple years now. Let me give you some background first. My grandmother had a fig tree growing outside her back door. Not something you see a lot of in Central PA. The story, as far as I was told, was that she brought this cutting of a fig tree with her when she came over from Italy as a young woman - in the early 1900's. That may or may not be totally accurate, but that fig tree was there as long as anyone remembers (and must have had more than one location). My grandmother is long gone, but my aunt still owns the property where the fig tree i
s still going strong. Another aunt took some cuttings and started trees for some family members. I managed to keep this thing alive in a pot in the living room for a year, and last spring I planted it out in the yard. Wonder of wonders...it didn't die. It even managed to survive over the winter and this year it is growing fantastic! And the best part of all - there are tiny figs on it!!! I don't know if anyone, anywhere has ever gotten so excited at seeing tiny figs begin to sprout. I can't wait for them to grow and ripen - there probably won't be a lot on it's first year of producing figs but we shall savor every one of them (and probably fight over them too).
