John Bachman wrote:

Tunnels? Not sure that I follow you there. Can you expand on that a
bit?

I have permanent hoops over the beds. Come Thanksgiving I cover the
hoops with 4 mil polyethylene. I uncover April 1. In the intervening
time, I harvest whenever the veggies unfreeze. I have mostly chicory
and collard, with some tatsoi, kale, arugula, and also the lettuce that
will be coming up early in the spring. In years past I was harvesting
last on January 1. This year for the first time I will harvest
throughout the season.


A couple
oildrums filled with water inside the enclosure will give you extra
security by moderating both temperature extremes.

I had not thought of the oil drums. I have a couple, painted black
and everything. Full of water and snugged up inside a covering might
be helpful. We are getting -4F tonight and -10F tomorrow - happens
nearly every year. That is hard to counter for very long.

You have to wonder, however, if the heat units at your place will be
enough to ripen the figs in time. I have a nice looking jujube, full
sun, producing lots of berries, and they never ripen in time (it's
just
as well, the squirrels like them unripe). You may be able to get the
units by keeping the cover until Mem.day and putting it back around
Sept. 20.

It seems to me that some years they will ripen and some they will
not.
We often get a frost in September but just as often not. Where's
that
damned global warming when you need it? I would hate to put in a fig
leading to blame for a decade of early frosts.

John

-10F? Let me be the first to discourage you. The coldest I have seen
here in 10 years has been -5F, and some years it does not even get
below 0. Figs like it hot, more so than jujube, otherwise they will not
make it. Why not something like hardy kiwis? Flavor-wise, they are the
equal of figs, and you will get those for sure because they like it
mild, but will take 6 years. Nice plant with huge output once it gets
going, though you need a lot of space. Or you keep the cover on the fig
9.5 months a year.