Why a fig belongs in a small UK courtyard

Figs have a reputation for being tender and faintly impossible in Britain. The truth is more encouraging. They come from hot, dry, stony hillsides where the soil is poor and the roots are cramped, and that is the life they fruit best in. Give a fig rich soil and unlimited root room and you get a handsome leafy shrub and not a single ripe fruit. Give it a warm wall, a modest pot and a little tough love, and you will be picking soft, honeyed figs in late summer.

A courtyard suits them beautifully. Brick, render and paving soak up heat by day and release it after sunset, nudging fruit towards ripening in a season that is otherwise a few weeks too short. A sheltered corner also spares young shoots from wind. And a fig in a pot takes up about a square metre, giving you something far more interesting than another bay tree. Wildlife benefits too: the dense canopy shelters small birds, and any fruit you miss will be stripped by blackbirds before it falls.

Choose a compact variety that ripens here

Look for named varieties with a reputation for ripening in a cool summer. Most UK figs are parthenocarpic, setting fruit without the pollinating wasp Mediterranean growers rely on, so you need no partner plant.

• Rouge de Bordeaux — compact, heavy-cropping and one of the most reliable here, with purple skin and rich red flesh.
• Brown Turkey — the classic British choice, but vigorous. Restrict the roots firmly or it will grow rather than crop.
• Brunswick — hardier than most, ripening pale green fruit to amber. Good for cooler courtyards.
• Dalmatie and White Marseille — large, sweet, greenish-yellow figs for the warmest wall you have.
• Petite Negra — genuinely small and well suited to a tight corner or a large patio pot.

Figs give two crops: a small early one on last year's wood, the breba, and a larger main crop on the current season's growth. In a British courtyard, aim for the main crop, ripening from late August into October.

Restrict the roots — that is how you get fruit

This is the thing most often skipped, and it matters more than anything else. A fig that can roam grows like a hedge and crops poorly; a fig with checked roots fruits generously at a manageable size.

• Pot it. A container 35–45cm across and around 40 litres is plenty to start, filled with soil-based compost such as John Innes No. 3 and a good handful of horticultural grit.
• Or sink the pot into the ground with the rim just above soil level, or stand it on paving.
• If planting into open ground, line the hole with paving slabs or a heavy-duty root barrier, leaving the base open for drainage.
• Never add manure or a high-nitrogen feed. Poor living suits figs; luxury does not.

Site it where the heat lingers

Find the sunniest, most sheltered spot: a south- or south-west-facing wall with six to eight hours of direct sun and paving beneath to bounce light back into the canopy. Avoid hollows where spring frost collects, as a late frost blackens emerging shoots and costs you the breba crop. Pot up in spring so the plant settles before winter, water regularly through the first summer, then ease back. From midsummer, feed fortnightly with a high-potash tomato fertiliser to encourage fruit rather than leaves, and top the compost with grit to warm the roots.

Pinching, watering and a little winter care

In early summer, once young shoots have made five or six leaves, pinch out the growing tips between finger and thumb. This stops the plant running away, pushes energy into the developing figs and keeps everything within reach. Repeat on strong new shoots in July.

Watering needs care. Figs in pots dry out fast in a hot courtyard, and a thirsty plant drops its fruit. Water thoroughly when the top few centimetres of compost feel dry, and never leave the pot standing in water. In September, twist off any figs still smaller than a marble; they will not ripen, and removing them sends the last of the plant's energy into the fruit that will.

Winter is when a fig asks for help. Young shoots are tender, so wrap the pot in bubble wrap or hessian, stand it hard against the wall and drape fleece over the top growth during hard frosts. In late winter, cut out dead or crossing wood and shorten the framework lightly, then leave it alone — figs fruit on the previous summer's wood, so heavy pruning costs you next year's crop.

Expect the plant to take two or three seasons to settle, and the first harvest to be modest. Once established in a warm corner with its roots firmly reined in, it will crop every year. Pick when the fruit droops, softens and beads of nectar appear at the eye, and eat it within the hour.