Planting guide

When to plant fig

Sweet figs from a tough, sun-loving tree that copes with poor soil. In Melbourne it goes in All year.

Start as: Bare-root plant or Potted plant
Ready in: 2+ years to the first crop
Spacing: 300 cm
Depth: 0 cm
Sun: Full sun (6+ hours)
Water: Low
Effort: Easy
Frost-tender: No

When it goes in

● means fig can go in that month, ○ means wait. Worked out from each town's real monthly temperatures, not a zone map. Pick your town for the full list for that month.

Australian towns and cities
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Sydney	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Melbourne	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Brisbane	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Perth	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Adelaide	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Gold Coast	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Newcastle	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Sunshine Coast	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Canberra	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Central Coast	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Geelong	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Wollongong	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Hobart	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Townsville	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Cairns	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Toowoomba	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Darwin	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	○	○	○	○	○
Ballarat	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Mandurah	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Bendigo	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Launceston	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Mackay	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Rockhampton	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Coffs Harbour	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Blue Mountains	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Bunbury	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Bundaberg	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Alice Springs	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Mildura	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Port Macquarie	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●

Around the world
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Auckland	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Wellington	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Christchurch	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
London	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Manchester	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Edinburgh	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Dublin	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
New York City	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Los Angeles	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Chicago	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Seattle	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Austin	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Toronto	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Vancouver	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Cape Town	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Johannesburg	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Singapore	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Mumbai	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●
Paris	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Berlin	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○

How to plant fig

Plant in a sunny, sheltered spot with free-draining soil.
Water young trees well; established trees are drought-tolerant.
Prune lightly in winter to keep it compact.
Pick when soft, drooping and slightly cracked.

Fig varieties

Classic varieties are the reliable, widely grown ones. Adventurous ones are heirlooms, odd colours and rarities.

Brown TurkeyClassicself-fertile · pot-friendly · heavy-cropper · 13–17 wksReliable, common fig that does well in pots
Black GenoaClassicself-fertile · sweet · pot-friendly · 13–17 wksDark purple, sweet fruit
White AdriaticAdventuroussweet · self-fertile · 13–17 wksGreen-skinned fig with amber flesh
White GenoaAdventuroussweet · 13–17 wksPale fruit, honey sweet
De L'ArchipelAdventurouscolourful · 13–17 wksRare variety with dark purple flesh

Where to buy seedlings

Search on QP Seedlings Search on Amazon

Shop links may earn us a commission. It never changes what we recommend.

Shops shown are for Australia. The chooser picks shops for your country.

Good companions

Lavender, Marigold, Chive

Fig by month

Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec

More to plant

Lemon · Lime · Apple · Avocado · Banana · Mango

Not sure fig is right for your space? Answer a few taps and see everything that can go in this week.

Find what else you can plant now →