MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:

• Labor Day weekend, 2007: I mowed the first fig section, half of the Pawpaw section and hand trimmed around some of the figs. I checked on one of the airlayerings to see how it was progressing, but no signs of rooting. The season may be too late or cool for rooting. I'll let them go for a while longer.

  The groundhog has been digging around two figs in the far section (Val Camonica Long White, and Dan’s Favorite). I backfilled with dirt and rocks, then placed a mesh roll on top to help discourage it.
  

• May 23, 2009: Winter 2008/09 was hard on my figs with at least 75% freezing back to the ground. Here are the ones showing the least or no winter damage: Negretta, Mazur's Big Dark Purlple, Dark Portugal, Quanitco, Sal's (EL), Val Camonica - Large Black & Small Black, Aldo's and Negronne. I'm a bit surprised to include Negronne in this list -- but it is located on the upper slope of the field where the ground is drier and mostly poor subsoil (was either graded when the nearby road was built, or eroded over the years when the field was in cultivation). In fact almost all the trees showing the least damage are similiarly situated. Seems to indicate that soil conditions have as great an influence as genetics on witner hardiness.

• July 29, 2009: I was inspired to try budding my Sal's fig in my tiny backyard after seeing what Axier and Fignut (fig enthusiasts who post on the GW Fig Forum) have done. Since my backyard in town is so small, so this could be the perfect solution to squeeze in more varieties. I cut my overgrown Sal's way back this past February and used the vigorous regrowth as rootstock in early July. Here are current snapshots of two of the four buds that I did -- not very neat, but I am pleased:

  Bellone grafted to Sal's	Kalamata Black grafted to Sal's

  Since this is my first attempt at budding, I'm pretty excited to see that the whole thing hasn't just dried up and fallen off. Now they just need to hang in there and survive winter temperatures. As a side note, I found that the totally green wood that hadn't started to lignify the easiest to work with. So as a reminder to myself for next year, do it all between mid-June and early July.