While figs are not native to the Mojave, with proper care they can thrive in Las Vegas’ desert climate. The brown turkey fig is a viable option if you want to test your green thumb and literally enjoy the fruits of your labor.
🌱 What’s a brown turkey fig?
Of the more than 700 varieties of fig trees, the brown turkey fig is more resistant to heat and drought than most. They have a dual picking season each year, typically between late spring and early summer, and again between late summer and early fall. They’re not quite as sweet as the black mission variety, so here’s how to tell them apart:
- Brown turkey figs are deep-brown on the outside and pale pink on the inside.
- Black mission figs are dark purple on the outside and a brighter pink on the inside.
🦇 Bats, man
Every gardener knows the feeling of walking out to their garden and finding that something stole your fresh crops before they could be harvested. The most common threats to fig trees are insects, the occasional squirrel, birds, and bats. So, if you want to grow these in your yard, try covering them with wire and treating them with insecticidal soap.
👨🍳 Why not cook them?
The figs, not the bats. From jam to focaccia, there is no shortage of ways to eat figs.
👁️👄👁️ An Unpleasant Not-So-Fun Fact
I hate to follow up those delicious recipes with this information, but figs are essentially a set of inverted flowers that require a very metal fertilization from wasps. I’ll spare you the gruesome details, but essentially wasps use figs as a center for laying eggs.
