I grow figs in CT which is a little bit warmer than you but we get cold
enough here to kill off the new growth if it's exposed.

I wait until all the leaves are off (or pull them off) and the tree is
dry and wrap it up in burlap pulling the sticks in and tie them up.
Then I wrap that with some insulation and cover that with some more
cloth, then wrap it up in some tarp and that's pretty much it for the
winter.

My father in law has a huge tree which I guess is somewhat immune to the
cold as it's way too big to cover up in the winter but grows pretty well
each year.

The figs only bud from new growth stems so if you have some die off from
the previous years new growth it's not a bad thing. Some decent pruning
will keep the tree from getting unmanageable.

Good luck with them

John Bachman wrote:

I am in Southern NH, zone 5b and am considering giving a fig tree a
try. I have read various techniques for babying the tree through our
winters; trenching, covering, bring em inside and plant along a south
facing wall.

I am planning on the latter as soon as I build the wall which has no
other purpose. Then I plan on constructing a cover with ventilation
for winters.

Anyone care to comment on their succesful techniques? Actually,
unsuccesful techniques are worthwhile too - why reinvent broken
wheels?

TIA

John