July 2, 2017

We had a disaster with our greenhouse this past winter and we’re very thankful that our fig trees came back from near death!

Until this past winter we heated the greenhouse with a pellet stove which worked very well but which caused problems.  We couldn’t be gone for more than 24 hours or the pellet stove would run out of fuel.  Having someone tend the pellet stove always proved problematic for a number of different reasons.

Last fall, we installed a 65,000 BTU direct-vent gas furnace in the greenhouse.  On the first really cold night, the temperature in the greenhouse plummeted to 11 degrees.  As it turns out, a gas meter with a larger flow was needed to handle the extra load.

The situation was not rectified till early spring, however, so we lost pretty much everything in the greenhouse due to extended cold.  Now, you might wonder why we waited until spring.

When installing a new meter, at least in Santa Fe, the gas company tests the gas line at high pressure.  If any leaks are found gas service to the property is shut off until the leak can be isolated and fixed.  We decided this was not a risk we wanted to take in the middle of winter so we simply turned off the furnace in the greenhouse for the season.

Miraculously, the dead-looking fig trees started sending up new shoots from their roots this spring.  So, while we lost the large, established trees, we got some new ones in their place.  And they’re actually making figs.

The original fig tree came with us from Chicago in 2012.  Although it produced figs every year, they never ripened.  Apparently it is too cold at night where we live for that to occur.

In 2015 we left the fig trees in the greenhouse all summer rather than taking them out when the weather got warm.  We got ripe figs!

The fig trees now remain in the greenhouse year round.  Here are two short video clips of my mother-in-law and father-in-law enjoying the first fig to ripen for us in Santa Fe in summer of 2015.