A multitude of mulberries!

We've never had this many mulberries growing at a time!

We’ve never had this many mulberries growing at a time!

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I looked at the mulberry plant this week. It’s one of those plants that doesn’t require lots of attention, apart from regular pruning.  As a matter of fact, this plant started as a cutting in a pot, that sneakily took root through a crack in the cement paving it was on. It has been in this location for more than half a year and was pruned about a month ago when we were clearing the garden before Christmas. Prior to this, it bore fruits in small, scattered clumps like our mulberry plants normally do. So, I did a double-take and had to take a closer squint at the branches when I saw the incredible number of mulberries lining the branches!

What you see is just part of the branch - imagine a 2-metre long branch lined with clumps and clumps of mulberries!

What you see is just part of the branch – imagine a 2-metre long branch lined with clumps and clumps of mulberries!

I don’t know what we did to get this result, but I’ve been waiting for years to see our mulberry plants have this kind of yield! There was a video I saw years ago of someone’s mulberry tree practically dripping with fruits. I figured he had a different variety, or perhaps that our climate wasn’t suitable for mulberries, and had resigned myself to getting small harvests of a couple of handfuls (if we were lucky) at a time. I know that the birds will be competing with us for the fruits, but if we could actually get majority of the fruits, we would be able to make a mulberry pie! Or try another dessert that Mike, one of my old readers, once shared with me involving mulberries, other fruit and coconut cream. Yum! Maybe we’ll net up the plant to keep the birds away this one time…

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