Fingers crossed again for a fabulous fig tree

THERE’S nothing nicer on a warm evening than pottering round the garden, deadheading the odd flower and sloshing a little water on anything that looks thirsty.

It’s the sort of gardening you can do with a glass of something chilled in one hand.

I only mention this because I’ve been growing mint, lots of it, and when you’ve got a glut of mint then it’s only proper to make Mojitos.

We’ve heard lots in recent years about grow-your own food, but let’s not overlook the fun you can have growing your own cocktails.

With very little effort you can produce everything from raspberries for French Martinis to blackcurrants for creme de cassis, the essential ingredient of Kir Royale.

Cheap fizz is transformed when you float a nasturtium flower in the glass and there are a dozen drinks that can be given a twist with a lemon picked from a tree on the patio.

In the refreshment tent at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show, an American gentleman asked me to explain Pimm’s.

I think I lost him at the strawberries and cucumber stage, but after he’d tried it for himself he clearly got the idea because I saw him join the queue for a second glass.

And here’s the thing – I don’t know of any drink that doesn’t taste better for having something fresh from the garden added to the mix.

After tasting the original at Harry’s Bar in Venice, I’ve longed for years to grow white peaches so I could squeeze their flesh into Prosecco and make Bellinis and if the figs on the patio ever ripen I’ll be whizzing up Fig and Bourbon Fizz.

Yes that’s right. I am, once again, attempting to grow a fig tree.

Regular readers will know I try this every two or three years – and it always ends in disaster.

Now there is absolutely no reason why I shouldn’t be able to grow one.

I know of a tree that grows in a garden near Aberdeen that produces a good crop of fruit in a hot year.

Figs are tough, well able to withstand freezing temperatures, yet somehow, despite my best efforts, mine always come to grief.

So why should this attempt be any different?

Because I think I’ve found the perfect spot – hot and sunny, sheltered from the wind, and with a wall behind it to absorb the sun’s heat and radiate it back at night.

I don’t really mind if the fruit don’t ripen, I just happen to think a fig tree at the front door gives life a flavour of the hot south, and we all need a bit of that on a grey day.

I’m growing my fig in a pot that looks too small for it (figs do better with root restriction) but that means that I have to water it every day, and twice a day during hot weather.

It may come from the Mediterranean, but those big leaves and swelling fruits like a drink as much as the rest of us.