Putting the Figs to Bed

It's been several weeks since my fig trees looked like this: green leaves and little happy fruits.  I did actually get a small crop off the Violetta de Bordeaux.  They didn't ripen on the tree, but they are getting ripe in a paper sandwich bag on the counter.  I'm hoping that they will be edible.

Meanwhile, it's gotten cold and all the leaves have fallen away.  Now, they are naked little sticks in great big pots.  One of my jobs this weekend is to wrap their pots with some handy chicken wire and make a frame to stuff with straw.  I'm hoping that it will keep my fledgling trees at a consistent temperature over the winter on the porch.  The porch isn't heated, but it stays about 15 degrees warmer than the great outdoors.  This should be okay for the figs, I think, and if it gets horribly cold for a night or three, I can always drag them into the kitchen for the night and spare them the worst of it.  Figs are suprisingly hardy with cold weather--well, relatively, anyway.  They certainly couldn't take the snow and sub-zero temperatures we get around here in February, but they do like a nice long chilling off spell down to 20 degrees or so.  I think they will get that on the porch, particularly if they are snugged in a straw layer...and possibly wrapped in an old quilt.  I suppose I will find out if they survive come spring, when new leaves start to appear. (Or not.)