British gardener celebrates first rooftop fig harvest
A single perfectly ripe fig grown on a London rooftop sparks a joyful thread about expanding fruit-growing ranges in Britain.
What to know
- Growers across northern Europe report successfully harvesting Mediterranean fruits like figs and almonds, often for the first time, in regions where they were previously impossible to cultivate.
- The thread reflects a cultural shift: warmer summers and changing climate are expanding what home gardeners can grow in Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, and Scotland.
- Reactions center on celebration of incremental agricultural achievement and nostalgia for sun-ripened fruit eaten fresh from trees, alongside a mix of climate-change commentary.
The dispute Whether the expansion of Mediterranean fruit-growing in northern Europe is purely a benefit or an ambiguous mixed outcome of climate change. · positions read across 88 posts and comments
Growing Mediterranean fruits in northern Europe is a remarkable and gratifying achievement worth celebrating.
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“Grew my first and so far only almond this year, so I sympathise a lot!”
eschenbruch.eurosky.social · Bluesky ↗
Eating fresh figs straight from the tree is a profound sensory and emotional luxury.
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“One of my greatest luxuries is to pick a fig from my friends' tree and just bite straight into it. Oooh!”
frankspicer.bsky.social · Bluesky ↗
Warmer summers brought by climate change are enabling fruit crops previously impossible in northern Europe.
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“every year it gives kilos of wonderful figs twice yearly. And they say climate change is bad”
akkusb.eurosky.social · Bluesky ↗
sturdyalex.bsky.social British rooftop gardener
How it unfolded 2 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump postscomments
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Commenters share expanding fruit-growing ranges across northern Europe
Dozens of replies describe growing figs, almonds, and other Mediterranean fruits in Britain, the Netherlands, and Germany—often for the first time or in unexpected abundance—with several attributing success to warmer summers.
“every year it gives kilos of wonderful figs twice yearly. And they say climate change is bad…”
— akkusb.eurosky.social -
S
Excuse the grubby nails, but obviously I have been gardening.
2 more of the top 3 · 87 posts in this stretch
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Years ago someone brought us a little fig tree as a gift, saying it was of the decorative kind and wouldn't give fruit. And living in the Netherlands I couldn't have expected what happened after: every year it gives kilos of wonderful figs twice yearly. And they say climate change is bad
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Grew my first and so far only almond this year, so I sympathise a lot!
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Gardener shares first British rooftop fig
Sturdyalex posted a photo of a single ripe fig grown on a rooftop in Britain, celebrating the achievement despite it being only one fruit.
“So what if it is ONLY one fig? It is MY first British rooftop fig and it is PERFECT.”
— sturdyalex.bsky.social -
So what if it is ONLY one fig? It is MY first British rooftop fig and it is PERFECT.
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What people are saying 20 voices from 1 site · best of 88 · verbatim
- Will these expanding fruit-growing ranges persist as a stable feature of northern European climate, or is this a temporary window?
- Which fig and almond varieties are most reliable for UK and continental growing?
- Sep 22
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My earliest in NC that I know the name of is called Marseille Black. You could probably fruit that one and it's very tasty!
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We have a fig tree. This year it is giving us a steady bumper crop. Fig trees are great: almost indestructible, easy to grow and generous with their fruit.
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Sitting outside in one of our local Catalan bars, under fig trees, the owner (now sadly dead) used to come round with a cutter on a pole, cut figs when ripe, and hand them to customers. Lovely man. Lovely figs too.
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Nothing nicer than eating a fig straight from the tree.
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“British Rooftop Fig” is a good band name!
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C
The climate crisis is bad. Your figs are things of beauty.
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A harvest is a harvest. I said the same thing about my 10 potatoes 😂
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Last year I had an indecent amount and size of London figs. This year only about 5 ripe ones… not enough water
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As I wake up in the morning, it has slowly dawned(you see that?) on me that living things in Mother Nature are all furtively working away. And there are a lot of them. Today it’s one fig, next season it will be many more.
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Beautiful! We had four this year for the very first time on our very small tree. Onwards and upwards!
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figs are the best always wait until they start teardropping honey and their insides turn golden
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Beautiful. I had about a dozen beautiful figs from my tree this year. Barely had one edibke one before. I like to think my Dad (who always grew figs) was smiling down on us xx
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Congratulations. My parent's neighbor grows figs in northern Germany of all places, and their tree produces amazing fruit, fragrant, aromatic and fresh.
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My 7 year old son and his friend thought it was a great idea to pick all the unripened figs from our tree last month 😩. However we have had an abundance of peppers and tomatoes from our allotment this summer!
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A
Great job Alex Just purchased some from Turkeyi at a supermarket and they are absolutely bang on flavour and texture wise My two favourite fruits: figs and persimmons
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I see lots of fig trees here on the south coast, but only tiny figs on them, which seem to fall unripe in gardens, unwanted. Such a shame.
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One of my greatest luxuries is to pick a fig from my friends' tree and just bite straight into it. Oooh!
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Enjoy! They say it was not an apple in eden but a fig....
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We had quite a few but the hot weather did for them so actually also only managed one! We also got a single melon🤣
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Ooh that's lovely! And there will be more. I used to do quite well with them in Catford, but haven't yet planted one here. An error!