When to harvest Fig in the UK
Fig is planted rather than sown from seed, so the dates below are harvest dates.
Harvest dates by region
Fig is grown to the calendar rather than to the frost, so the same dates apply across the whole UK and every region below reads the same. Where a plant’s timings do follow the frost, Plot shifts them from the Midlands and Lowland Wales baseline using Met Office average frost dates.
| Where you are | Harvest |
|---|---|
| South West Coast and Cornwall | mid August to late September |
| South Coast and Channel | mid August to late September |
| Greater London (Urban Heat Island) | mid August to late September |
| South East and Home Counties | mid August to late September |
| East Anglia | mid August to late September |
| Midlands and Lowland Wales | mid August to late September |
| Wales and West Coast | mid August to late September |
| Northern England | mid August to late September |
| Scotland Lowlands and Central Belt | mid August to late September |
| Scotland Highlands and Islands | mid August to late September |
| Northern Ireland | mid August to late September |
| Channel Islands and Isle of Man | mid August to late September |
Growing notes
Restrict the roots - a large pot, or a 60cm planting pit lined with vertical paving slabs standing 2.5cm above soil level - or you get vigorous leafy growth and no fruit. Best planted in spring, fan-trained on a south-facing wall and kept to about 1.8m tall by 3.5m wide; only the first of the two crops ripens in the UK, at the end of summer.
At a glance
- Spacing
- 350 cm between plants
- Row spacing
- 400 cm
- Plants per m²
- 0.1
- Yield per plant
- 5 kg
- Eventual height
- 180 cm
- Eventual spread
- 350 cm
- Sun
- Full
- Frost tender
- No
- Grows in a container
- Yes, 50 litres or more
- Minimum soil depth
- 40 cm
- Balcony rating
- 4 out of 5
Pruning: what to avoid
Prune figs twice, in spring and early summer, and never remove the pea-sized embryo figs at the shoot tips formed the previous late summer - those are next year's crop. Wrap fan-trained figs with straw or fleece after leaf fall so those fruitlets are not killed by frost.
Pruning group
fig (fan-trained, prune spring and early summer)
How long until it crops
Expect the first worthwhile pick about 3 years after planting, and a productive life of roughly 30 years.
What usually goes wrong
- fruit failing to ripen in cool summers
- frost damage to embryo figs
- glasshouse red spider mite
- scale insects
- birds and wasps
Related guides
Timings cross-checked against RHS guidance for fig.