Kitchen Garden Simon Courtauld

MULBERRIES

In these dark times, planting a tree seems a good idea; a new life beginning in 2020 after all the life that has been lost.

My choice is a mulberry tree, partly because the fruit are so difficult to buy and also because, with enough space, the tree can last for hundreds of years. I remember going to the Drapers’ Hall in London many years ago and admiring their mulberry tree which was said to have been planted in the 14th century. It lasted until 1969.

A mature mulberry tree, with spreading branches and large, heartshaped leaves, is ideal for providing shade in the garden. Alternatively, it can be espaliered against a south-facing wall.

If space is limited, the best advice is to buy a container-grown tree which can be transferred in time to a root-control bag or larger pot.

Pomona Fruits are offering a variety, Chelsea, which should be available in containers in June. This is the black mulberry ( Morus nigra), originally grown in the Chelsea Physic Garden in the reign of James I and the only one to produce sweet-tasting fruit.

James planted thousands of them in London to provide food for the silkworms and to compete with the French silk trade. Unfortunately he didn’t realise that the silkworm feeds only on the leaves of the white mulberry.

When planting out, choose a sheltered spot and make sure the ground is deeply dug and watered regularly in summer. Some varieties fruit early in their life, but others will not bear fruit for about eight years.

Suttons advertise a dwarf mulberry bush, Charlotte Russe, which will grow in a pot to a height of no more than five feet and produce fruit in its first year. It won Plant of the Year at Chelsea in 2017 – but reports of the fruit’s taste have not been favourable.

Whichever variety of tree you choose, it might be appropriate this summer, remembering the old nursery rhyme, to ask any small grandchildren to dance round the mulberry bush, singing ‘This is the way we wash our hands…’