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Mulberries
Take a peek into my back garden any time in the last few days and you may have seen the curious sight of a middle aged lady half way up a small tree.
I'm not actually testing it out for any grandchildren I may someday have - though it certainly passes the test of being easy to climb.
It's a mulberry tree, and climbing the tree is pretty much the only way to pick most of them.
There's a reason you never see mulberries for sale in shops, in spite of them tasting rather good.
They crop gradually, so you can't pick them all at once.
They're squishy when ripe, so you can't store them.
The juice stains - you'll never get it out of your clothes unless you really want to bleach them.
The fruit tends to be hidden by leaves, so you can't even see it without getting under the branches (which tend to droop down to the ground).
The trees don't bear fruit until they're about five years old.
The trees don't grow in handy dwarf sizes (and you'd still have the problem of the fruit being under the leaves even if you had a dwarf tree.)
Quite a few years ago, we planted a tiny mulberry tree. It's now rewarding us with a good crop of fruit, as long as we're prepared to climb the tree and get mulberry juice on our clothes...
Hey, it's an excuse to climb a tree!
This isn't my tree, it's an older one, but it gives you an idea of their low spreading growth. They have lovely pinky bark and look all gnarly and older than they really are. They're slow growing and don't get out of control.
I like my mulberry. I also grow wild garlic and bluebells under my tree, which have conveniently died down by the time I need to pick the fruit.
I'm not actually testing it out for any grandchildren I may someday have - though it certainly passes the test of being easy to climb.
It's a mulberry tree, and climbing the tree is pretty much the only way to pick most of them.
There's a reason you never see mulberries for sale in shops, in spite of them tasting rather good.
They crop gradually, so you can't pick them all at once.
They're squishy when ripe, so you can't store them.
The juice stains - you'll never get it out of your clothes unless you really want to bleach them.
The fruit tends to be hidden by leaves, so you can't even see it without getting under the branches (which tend to droop down to the ground).
The trees don't bear fruit until they're about five years old.
The trees don't grow in handy dwarf sizes (and you'd still have the problem of the fruit being under the leaves even if you had a dwarf tree.)
Quite a few years ago, we planted a tiny mulberry tree. It's now rewarding us with a good crop of fruit, as long as we're prepared to climb the tree and get mulberry juice on our clothes...
Hey, it's an excuse to climb a tree!
This isn't my tree, it's an older one, but it gives you an idea of their low spreading growth. They have lovely pinky bark and look all gnarly and older than they really are. They're slow growing and don't get out of control.
I like my mulberry. I also grow wild garlic and bluebells under my tree, which have conveniently died down by the time I need to pick the fruit.
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Hmmm, I wonder why my sister didn't try using mulberries when she was dying her home-spun wool? There was a point when we were all into using natural dyes, like onion-skins. Oh, I know why: it's much more fun to actually eat the berries than use them for something else. (grin)
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There isn't quite the same temptation with onion skins.
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My Mum made wine.
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I must have had half a pound of random blackberries while out walking this afternoon. My fingers were stained guilty purple. Ripe and sun-warmed they are a treat.
Tomorrow, I go raid the apples on the business estate I used to work on. I have my handy apple picker at the ready.
FF
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I picked 1 1/2 lbs of wild blackberries today in the jitty near my house, and together with my leftover whitecurrants I'll make some wine.
Wild garlic looks and smell gorgeous, but I'm not sure I'd want it all over my garden.
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