Picked the first Marseilles Fig of the season today. We originally purchased this fig plant in the Monticello Garden Shop. This was said to be Thomas Jefferson's favorite fig. It has a slight honey taste and we really like it. Anyone else growing it?

This variety is quite popular in the south of France.The figs need a hot climate to ripen, which explains it can mostly be found near the Mediterranean sea. They are a their best when the stem is quite flexible The fig on the picture could have stayed a bit longer on the figtree provided a bird or some critter did not find it before you did.

I haven't seen that variety. Looks lovely, almost glowing.
A friend 'helped' me pick my Desert King figs last week. Ugh. Many were not ripe enough! They'll ripen, won't they? NO. They rot before they ripen off the tree. I didn't say that but made sure friend had a few hard ones to take home to watch 'ripen', to learn.
When I saw that a rat had found my tree I cut branches off the tree and hung them under my patio roof where the few figs ripened nicely. I tried it out of desperation, not wanting a rat getting them all before we did. It worked. The tree wants pruning back anyway.

Rats can be a nuisance and bite mostly any kind of fruit. If the tree has branches leaning against a wall or touching other trees there is no solution unless we trap or poison the rats. If the tree is free from all contacts I tie a funnel-like sheet of metal round the trunk, rats can’t pass the device.