Annette.... Growing fig trees is probably one of the easiest, and most delicious things you could do. Decide whether in ground, or containerized. Decide on location. (Full-sun, and heat, is good) Figs grow/develop on new wood, so prune if you must to control growth. Read postings on this forum about when/where to prune, and pinch new growth. The winter will be your problem. If containerized, and heavy...buy a dolly @ Home Depot and roll the plant(s) around. Read postings on winter storage/dormancy. Buying a twig/small, rooted-cuttings is a waste of time. Get a bearing-age tree, and you'll have fruit this year. Check your local garden centers for good trees. Twigs die out if not grown perfectly, and in the long run, you'll get more bang for the buck by starting off with a larger plant. I grow my 6 foot tall, single-stem trees in large storage tubs (with drainage holes), and all branches are grown at the top of the long bare trunks. I roll the trees around on dollies. This saves the back, and I'm hernia free. If you can store the trees (containerized) in an unheated garage or dark, cool, storage shed you'll probably solve your winter problems. Buy a short-season fig variety. If at a bearing age, and growing vigorously, pinch back new growth to 6 leaves on each branch for earlier ripening of main-crop figs. You'll be chowin' down on figs by September, or earlier! Seriously, this forum is the only place to get good, solid, up-to-date, fig-growing information. If you are going to buy figs through the mail, stay away, no...run away! from Ty-Ty, and Willis Orchards. Why?...search this forum. Also, west-coast nurseries are known for selling fig trees with mosaic virus. I learned the hard way. I personally have grown only one short-season variety called "Atreano"...which makes a very large, golden-yellow fig that's really sweet... if, ripened correctly. Do a search for this excellent, smaller-growing fig variety. It's a good start. Deer might not be a problem, but birds could be! Hope this helps you decide what to do. Read everything about growing figs on this forum, then decide how you will want to grow the tree(s)...then, go shopping. It's fun, and you'll be hooked. We were all normal once. : ) : ) BronxFigs

Firefox or no firefox, the ads are the ads are the ads, and they have to download before the threads will appear. I am getting really good at solitare and can get through all the craig's list sites I like along with a couple Sudokus before the GW threads even show up without some "survey" or ad floating in front of the post finally goes away.

The Internet is a place where folks who ordinarily could never speak can socialize to their hearts content. Seme to me there are several good things about that ability and at least two not so good things. One not so good thing is the anonymity---you have absolutely no good way to verify who is actually typing what you read. And, along with that facelessness people find it much easier to sweep normal face to face social rules aside---after all, how does one get back at a person in a computer? The second not so good thing is related to the anonymity---how do we actually decifer exactly what a person means when they use only words? Human conversation relies heavily on manerisms---- facial expressions, hand gestures, and vocal inflection. When print is all there is, all those modifiers are absent and words/phrases can easily be read/defined differently by everyone who reads them. One other item---internet legends(old wives tales) have created an entire new false/true data base---causing several folks to start debunking websites in an attempt to correct the spread of these stories. Believe it or not, I am the Senior Moderator for an internet woodworkers website---with some 28,000+ members. It is my duty to make sure anyone who breaks the four simply rules we have found it necessary to initiate gets the appropriate correction. So far, we have permanently banned(denied access) over 200 former members because they could not be nice and cease attacking(verbally) other members. That has boggled the mind of the forum administrator---whose initial rules were---Be Nice, Stay on topic, and Have Fun. I agree whole heartedly forums need minimum rules of operation/decency. What is the actual result is that a certain number of people just do not interpret what is printed in the same manner and have different reactions. I also feel incorrect information should be corrected. In woodworking, incorrect information can result in a severe mistake. When incorrect information is given about pets, pets can suffer. Then there is the area of belief. I have certain beliefs about dogs, mostly from 50+ years of owning/working with them. These beliefs are now facts for me, proven by repetition and modification---since no two dogs are exactly alike. But there are people who vilify me for these beliefs, even when they have no idea of who I am or what experience I have----simply because they have their own beliefs---and those beliefs do not agree with mine. It is not easy to exchange ideas when people do not listen and consider information. The definition of conversation is the exchange of ideas---if one soide does not at least consider the other persons information, there is only a lecture and no education.

Funnelweb, I like your approach! We have a similar attitude. I remember a few years ago we had a snake in the backyard. I only saw it partially once in the old chook shed as it scuttled away very quickly. I thought "god what the heck is that" and then figured it must have been a blue tongue as we had quite a few of those. Then one day my son's school friend was here and they got a good look at it. The friend was all for killing it as he used to live on acreage down around Berry and reckoned that when it gets to breeding season they (snakes) get agressive.. but I reckoned it wasn't doing anyone any harm and indeed it had only even been seen the once, and frankly, I'm flattered it likes our place, so I issued a protection order for it. we have some frogs and some water and the old chook shed has a nice northerly facing concrete floor and stuff in it to hide under. Sounds like pretty good snake apartments really! There used to be an aviary and chooks in nearby yards, and these attracted the mice, but those are gone, so the food supply may not be what it once was, and I don't think snakey is till around. I have been doing a project re family photos recently and had a disappointment. We have an old family story about my grandfather walking along and stepping in a taipan which was curled up asleep minding its own business in the long grass. Snake jumped up into the air in fright. Granfather jumped up into the air in fright.. the family story went that snake went one way, grandfather the other.. but then going through my mothers photo album, there's a photo of my grandfather holding up a dead snake. Mum says, yeah, that IS the snake from the story. .... sniff... I liked that story better when I thought the snake lived to tell the tale. As far as I know the only fauna permanently living in the old chook shed at the moment is a rather large and impressive red back. When I found her she was a beautiful specimen. Red backs made excellent pets. They are quiet, timid and provide food for blue tongues. Sure you don't want to go sticking your finger in their gob, but I reckon that's about what you'd need to do to rile one up.. and im our experience the red backs aren't stupid, they do their best to choose places you don't interfere with too much and set up their web out of the way there. They are lovely little creatures.