Growing Figs on a Pittsburgh Rooftop

Written by Steven Biggs - Fig Expert

What does it take to grow figs on a restaurant rooftop in Pittsburgh?

In this conversation from 2018, rooftop gardener Seth Finn shares how he grew fig trees in containers, protected them through Pennsylvania winters, and supplied fresh figs to his daughter's restaurant, Dinette.

Seth started rooftop gardening at his home in 1992 and later brought his growing experience to Dinette. He grew figs in large, sub-irrigated containers, pruning the trees to make winter protection easier.

In this conversation, we talk about:

  • Growing fig trees in 10-gallon containers

  • Pruning figs to make them easier to lay down for winter

  • Insulating fig trees right on the rooftop

  • What happened when Seth tried overwintering the trees in a garage instead

  • Using wicks and water reservoirs in homemade containers

  • Reusing and refreshing potting mix instead of replacing it every year

  • Growing crops for a restaurant kitchen

It's a conversation about figs, inventive container gardening, and making a productive garden work in an unexpected place.

Steven Biggs - Fig Expert

Recognized by Garden Making magazine as one of the "green gang" of Canadians making a difference in horticulture, Steven Biggs is a University of Guelph-trained horticulturist, former college instructor, and award-winning broadcaster and author.

He has been teaching gardeners how to grow figs in cold climates since 2011. But his interest in figs took off much earlier, in 1993, while working at a nursery with the UK National Collection of figs.

He’s the author of the first book about growing figs in cold climates, the award-winning Grow Figs Where You Think You Can’t. His articles about growing figs have appeared in Fine Gardening, Garden Making, and Edible Toronto.

When not in the garden, you might catch him interviewing fig experts for his Fig Culture podcast.

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