The Breba

Breba Crop-Fig Tree

Most fruit trees grown in California share a common trait. The same rule applies to most bushes or ground covers that produce fruit. It does not matter if your fruit of choice is a juicy peach, or if it's a red and ripe delicious strawberry. Your fruit of choice generally spends the entire year to gear up and produce a single big crop of fruit.

The same rule of thumb can apply to some tomato plants that are known as hybrids. They produce one big crop for an entire season and that's just about it. Don't get me wrong. It's a good crop of tomatoes. But, you only get one.

There is only one type of fruit tree, that I'm aware of, that laughs at this time-honored model of production. This type of fruit tree says "hold my beer." I must warn you that I do not have a great deal of experience with this fruit variety. I can only tell you that it begins to produce tree-ripened fruit much earlier than most fruit trees. But, it doesn't stop there. It keeps right on growing new crops that become tree-ripened fruit throughout the summer.

Breba Crop 2023

It has more energy than your standard Energizer Bunny.

That first crop, pictured above right and again to your immediate left, is called "Breba." It comes from the Spanish word of Breva. This is the first crop that is produced by your average fig tree. I happen to have one of these trees. It is anything but average. It is also unlike any fruit tree or bush that I've ever grown.

I must admit to you: I have grown my fair share. This includes five different varieties of peaches. Why five? Because four is never enough. Come to think of it, five wasn't enough either.

The Spanish are responsible for bringing the fig tree to North and South America. Blame the Spanish. They also brought peach trees and pigs. They would also bring numerous plagues and diseases that the natives had no resistance too, but we'll save that sad story for another day.

Tree of Gluttony

You know what the worst part of this fruit tree experience is? I'm not even sure what kind of fig tree I have. I know it came from Dave Wilson Nursery. But that is the extent of my knowledge. The tree was in a bucket that was labeled with the name of Kadota. This is NOT a Kadota fig tree. Not even close. It's some kind of black fig because the skin of the fruit is black.

My best guess is this is the Black Mission Fig. That is the industry standard. But judging on the color of the skin and the color of the flesh (red), it could be another variety. This includes the Black Jack, the Purple Smyrna or even the Violette de Bordeaux. In short? I'll never know. I just know this one tree produces a boatload of fruit.

As of right now, this tree is loaded with an eye-popping amoung of Breba. But you ain't seen nothing yet. The main crop will dwarf the size of any and every Breba crop. Or, at least it has so far.

Breba here, Breba there

I give away as much as I can. Neighbors, friends, family members, you name it. You want figs? I got figs. Last year I convinced two members of the Sacramento Gardening Group on Facebook to come over and strip the tree. You know what? They did! They nabbed huge sacks of fruit! Guess what? It did not matter! Because the tree was free to grow a third crop, and it did!

I am kind of sad and disgusted to admit this. But there came a point last summer where I had given away as many figs as possible. I had used the fruit to make gallons of fresh Kompot. Anyone who wanted a whack at that fruit production was welcome to it. Despite this, hundreds of figs dropped from that tree and rotted.

Mango the Magnificent!

There was a day and age when various critters would help with stripping the crop. Rats, possums, skunks and birds ate as much as they wanted. But that day and age ended when Mango the Magnificent arrived and made his presence known. One day my three month old kitten put on a show for me by racing up and down that fig tree. Guess what? Critters no longer visit. They say "pass."

So, should you feel the desire for tree-ripened figs this summer, be sure and drop me a line. You can take as much as you like. I will beg you to take even more. You might even get a free ginger cat out of the deal.

The END!

The Cat and The RAT!

It is the end. Both literally and figuratively. It is the end of summer gardening season. And, if you look closely at the photo to your immediate right, it is also the end for that creature to the left of my ginger kitten.

I knew that this was going to happen at some point. There was going to come a time and day when Mango the Ginger Kitten was going to trap and catch a rat. That day came just the other day when I noticed this creature hanging from Mango's mouth as he proudly trotted by the back door leading to the backyard.

"That," I said to myself, "is a big, FAT, rat." I was immediately worried that Mango was headed for the garage door, which he can access to get inside the house and outside again. His intent, I thought at the time, was to haul that big, FAT, catch inside the house.

Captured Garden Raider

I took immediate action to make sure that wasn't going to happen.

As it turned out, Mango had no intention of hauling his catch inside the house. His intention was to prance around the yard for all to see and witness his hunting glory, before he dropped his catch on the backyard patio. You can guess what happened next.

I strongly suspected that rat didn't have much longer to live. My suspicion would turn out to be correct. I didn't watch what happened next, of course. That may be a rat. But it's also a living, breathing creature. I felt a bit sorry for the fate it would soon endure. But, nature is nature. You cannot and should not interrupt that process. I did not. When I returned to the french doors leading to the backyard garden an hour later, the deed was done.

Mango, of course, was very proud of his work. He chose to thank me for the care, love and cat food I provided for him during the summer by depositing a freshly harvested rat at the back door. I praised him for his work profusely, before depositing his "gift" into a sack. That sack went into the nearest outdoor trash can, leaving Mango free to prowl and hunt again. I do believe this was his first catch. I also believe it will not be his last. Not even close. He is just getting started.

The Mango

As badly as I feel for what happened to this rat, and the others who will join him, this was the plan. Mango was adopted from the Bradshaw Animal Shelter in Sacramento County in May for this exact purpose. A day after his adoption, this four-week old kitten was introduced to the trails I had created in the vegetable garden that I had planted just two short weeks earlier.

Mango turned out to be the solution I sought for years of rat raids in the garden. One tiny kitten is all it took to put an end to the misery of losing entire harvests to an army of voracious night-time raiders that gobbled up everything that I grew. Nothing else had worked. Rat traps got a few. But, trapping one rat didn't stop ten others from raiding the garden. The adoption of a Border Collie chased some away. But they just returned after the Border Collie went inside for the night.

The rats were not afraid. They returned. Night after night. Some nights they took a little. Other nights they took a lot. Waiting for a fat Brandywine tomato to ripen was a lesson in failure. No matter where it was on the vine, high up or down low on the bush, the rats always found it. Every morning revealed fresh damage.

End of Summer Garden Season

All of this damage, years of lost crops, came to an immediate end the moment that a four-week old kitten entered the garden last May. Everything stopped. The vegetables grew. They were not molested. Not one tomato. Not a single bell pepper. Even the bugs stayed away from the bush beans. There wasn't a single rat raid. Birds didn't risk a landing to peck at anything. Even the possums and skunks kept a healthy and respectful distance.

The result? By the end of this season, I was giving away as much as I could. I have a collection of pressure-canned tomato sauces and whole tomatoes. My neighbors received sacks of fresh produce. I even invited a few members from the Facebook gathering spot of Sacramento Gardening Group to drop by and take as much home as they could carry.

It was just that type of year. It's over now. Time to move on to the next garden challenge. Which is why there are piles and heaps of garden plants here and there. And, for each pile, there is a cat waiting to taste another opportunity.