Garden Update - Mulberries

Well hello everyone!

I just thought I'd touch base as something exciting is happening in gardens across WA right now... It's mulberry season!!!!!

I absolutely love mulberries! One of the first fruits I remember picking was mulberries, hanging over the fence into the chicken run, my sister and I would always come away with deep purple fingers!

They are a fantastic fruit, juicy, sweet, so yummy, and currently mass fruiting in my garden. I actually have two trees, a Hicks in the back garden, who's still quite small but trying hard, and a huge, at least ten year old weeping mulberry. This fella is just going nuts! The down side is, I just can't harvest them all.

Tuesday - 90 grams

Wednesday - 800 grams

Friday - almost a kilo

And this thing has only just begun.

Above - Wednesday 

Below- Friday

The question has been raised now, what to do with them all, I can't possibly eat the all fresh, so we are going to try make some mulberry jam! I made a tester batch with my 90 grams, and it turned out well, so with Wednesday and Fridays haul, we'll be making lots!

It raised the question though, what else I can do with them... 

Apparently plenty!

Pies, muffins, freeze and crush them in salads, mulberry wine, mulberry mead, jams, and heaps more.

Mead will be next on the list!

My mulberry jam progress!

I am amazed too about the health benefits mulberries can provide, they can aid:

. Heart health

. Blood sugar regulation

. Anticancer effects

. Boost immunity

. High cholesterol 

. Improves digestion 

. Liver health

. Weight loss

. Antioxidant properties

. Promote eye health

. Brain health

. Bone strength

And the list genuinely goes on!

They're also packed with vitamin C, iron, potassium and magnesium. 

As strange as this sounds though, discuss with your doctor first before eating them, as there can potentially be side effects; lowering blood sugar, allergies, and eating too many can cause discomfort, so have a chat with the doc first if concerned.

One thing I will recommend is a net or a bit of shade cloth to catch all your fruit, a lot of mine are unfortunately falling into the grass and it's very difficult to retrieve, or they are ending up on my drive and getting squished. Oh yes, and they do stain everything wonderfully well, so keep that in mind when planting your tree.

Mine is not this elaborate, it is a couple of strips of shade cloth stretched out and pinned into the ground to create a barrier.

Planting is very easy, I like to plant them in winter or early spring, this way they have a bit of time to settle in before outheat kicks in, you will also need to water well and regularly for the first year.

Dig a decent size hole, at least two, preferably three times bigger than the pot size, and add plenty of organic matter. Then once spring comes, a generous amount of fertiliser and that's it. Prune and shape as you'd like in winter once all leaves have dropped.

Mulberries will usually grow quite a decent size, 5 meters plus, and can grow quite quickly. There are some dwarfing varieties on the market though, and your weeping/ standard varieties, which make a beautiful feature tree. You can also get white fruits!

Did you know you can also eat the leaves of mulberry trees? They can be used to make teas, smoothies, and salads.

So just so everyone knows, there has been no waste from the jam making process.

Most mulberries went into the jam.

Mulberries that were a touch past it, went to my isopods, chicks and compost.

The pulp after sieving my jam was split between being added to my dog's chow and experimenting in dying a shirt.

The water that I soaked the Wednesdays batch in to keep them fresh has been bottled for later dying attempts. No waste! 

So there you have it, mulberry season, grab a basket and get picking!