It's A Fig!

Day 222: It's a fig! Now if I can just keep that stinkin' squirrel from picking it like the varmints did last year, it may grow to an edible size. At this point, it appears to be the only one, but somebody has to be first, right? The tree is "Desert King," now about four feet tall and branching nicely. Last year, eight or nie figs began to form, but when they reached this point, they started disappearing. Examining the ground on my hands and knees, I could find no evidence that they had dropped naturally, but it was not until later in the season that I put two to two and came up with two candidates: raccoons and/or squirrels. Given that my squirrel population has been exploding these past few years, I think they're the culprits. So how do you squirrel-proof a tree? That question could go in the books as one of the greatest mysteries of all time.