A Ripe Mulberry

I've always had a soft spot for the English luxury house Mulberry (I share my surname with one of their gorgeous satchels and often fancy it was named after me) but now I'm developing a thing for the actual berries too.

After reading this post over on Mud Pie I was hungry to sample the fruits of my own tree. It had been covered in berries for weeks but they were all green - so last week at the first sight of one turning red I plucked it from the tree and hungrily gobbled it up. It was tangy and bitter and not quite ripe. I hastily googled how long it takes for mulberries to ripen - and discovered than unripe berries are hallucinogenic. Great. I panicked for a second but thankfully I didn't spend the rest of the evening in a psychedelic stupor.

So I was a little more patient for this second berry and actually waited for it to turn black. 

Doesn't it look divine? So plump and glossy! I'm happy to report it's flavour was a huge improvement from the first under-ripe mulberry.

Apparently mulberries aren't commonly available in stores because they're so delicate and would get bruised in the packing and transportation processes. Although a part of me thinks that the farmers just never have enough to sell - the berries simply get plucked off the tree and eaten straight away!

The Mulberry Beanstalk

Is this some kind of magic mulberry beanstalk that grows before my eyes? Will my chickens start laying golden eggs soon?

The below photo was taken on 8th May - look how much its grown since my last update here.

I'm planning on pruning the tips soon - I think its getting too spindly and am hoping that will encourage some more bushy growth.

And do you love my tree ties made from old Chux? My Italian grandfather would be so proud.

The Awkward Orchard

I stopped in at the northside nursery Eden Gardens on the weekend for a quick browse - and of course left with a boot full of plants and brain full of ideas.

I picked up a White Mulberry tree, inspired by the success to date of our Black Mulberry tree (check it out above - it is now officially way taller than me!)

I was also inspired by their fantastic citrus trees and resolved to pay mine a bit more attention.

We've had a Tahitian Lime tree languishing in the back of the veggie patch near the chicken coop - and despite punching out a small branch initially it's been attacked by grubs, grasshoppers and citrus leaf miners and hasn't shown any interest in growing for about 6-8 months.

I decided that it wasn't getting enough sun either so I took the plunge and transplanted it along the fence line in a much sunnier position amongst our other fruit trees. I hope it will be much happier here - and I didn't shock it too much by moving it.

So, now we've got from left to right...

White Mulberry, Ruby Red Grapefruit, Tahitian Lime, Dwarf Meyer Lemon, Hootie the possum guard and the star performer Black Mulberry.

Behold the Amazing Mulberry Tree

Check out our fantastic new mulberry tree.

 

       Jan 23rd                                                       Feb 18th                                                          Mar 5th

It's almost doubled in height in a month and a half. I wish all our plants grew this quickly.

We planted it when we decided that we'd add a deck to the back of our house, so we'd need some screening to stop us looking directly into the neighbours yard. At this rate, it'll be 20ft high by the time the deck is completed.