Where are you located? That will provide a clearer indication of what kind of fruits would work best for you and your conditions. And do you have a suitable space to overwinter those that might not tolerate being left outdoors?

Thanks for your reply. I live in Auckland NZ, so we have warm humid summers and mild wet winters, so not very extreme. I could overwinter if needed, but we get very few frosts each year

I find that figs are easy. Not at all finicky in my experience, and it's fairly easy to control their size. Even young, small plants can produce a good crop of luscious figs.

My Hardy Chicago figs produce 5-10 figs per gallon of pot. Figs are the easies fruits to grow in containers.

6b Steve

And they're really not finicky at all! Easier than citrus. I pretty much ignore my figgies and they do great. You can also get super dwarf varieties like Little Ruby. It will stay petite and give you lots of fruit. Mine hasn't fruited yet, so I can't comment on its taste.

Steve, do you grow other varieties besides Hardy Chicago? I've heard good things about that one but never tasted it.

No It is the only fig that produces fruit early enough to ripen before the first fall frost. To get figs from container trees other than Hardy Chicago I have to start my tree growing in February. If I start my Hardy Chicago in February I can pick fresh figs in early June so I go with the HC. I am more after the nutritional value with good taste, not so much for the exquisite taste of a particular variety. I also feel that a tree that produces 1000's of good figs is worth more than a tree that produces 100's of perfect figs. I concentrate on growing the food I can't buy due to availability, costs, or needs to be organic. My main plants are figs, kumquats, sweet lemons, organic greens. I buy everything else at the grocery

6b Steve

Ah I understand. CH seems perfect for your climate and your needs. =)

What you say makes perfect sense, of course -better have one great fig that produces abundantly than to search for THE perfect tasting fig that might produce less.

But some of us are a tad compulsive. =p Next spring, I'm set to receive two peach trees, two apricot, two cherries, two new lemons, a tenth fig tree and two banana plants. Oof! My husband is gonna throw his hands up in the air.

But I digress. Good chatting with you and good growing!

Blueberries! I had a blueberry plant for several years in a pot and it did really well, lots of fruit. Then I put it into the ground to let it 'flourish' and promptly killed it. I wasn't aware at the time of its pH requirements.

I have lost 11 out of 15 blueberry plants on that PH issue. I all most lost the other 4 plants because raccoons were digging my 60 gallon plants completely out of the ground. I can go across the border and buy 20 pounds for $35.

jemmalix I would think that your zone 5a would make any fig other than HC impossible. I do have 5 apple trees but only 1 produces. 3 pear trees that all 3 produce 5 bushels with the squirrels picking 5 bushels of unripe fruit they just drop. 3 grape vines that produce black rotted grapes. 6 cherries that set fruit and then drop all of them 1/2 way through. 2 paw paws that feed the raccoons. I did however get 30 Meiwa kumquats off my 2.5 foot tall tree of 12 inches diameter. 31 Cuban shaddocks from my 30 gallon tree and well over 300 figs from my in ground tree.

6b Steve