Photo courtesy of Steve Thoroughgood

Coming across a mulberry tree is always a lovely surprise. These beautiful trees awake a childlike enthusiasm in quite serious adults, as harvesting their fruit involves clambering through their gnarled branches and stuffing the sweet, plump berries into your mouth, as the juice spills over your fingers.

The members of the mulberry family that you can grow in this country are Morus nigra, the Black Mulberry, and Morus alba, the White Mulberry, both of which grow to around eight or nine metres. Morus nigra is more commonly grown for its prolific yield of fruit, although Morus alba fruits are very sweet, and the white mulberry is generally faster growing than the black. For small gardens, there is the weeping white mulberry, Morus alba pendula. Cultivars with good fruit yields include ‘Chelsea’, ‘Jerusalem’, ‘Large Black’ and ‘Wellington’.

As with most trees, the wisest time to plant is between October and March. Plant young trees and choose a sunny site sheltered from any strong, cold winds. Morus is most at home in moist but well-drained loamy soil, so avoid any areas prone to waterlogging. Edward Cannon of Langthorns Plantery in Essex, advises his customers to dig a large hole five times the size of the pot and mix one third well rotted manure or garden compost with two thirds of the original earth. Fill the hole with the soil mixture to the depth of the pot, and plant, taking care around the roots, which are very brittle. Once planted, water the tree well with at least two gallons of water, and stake only if necessary.

Mulberries are thirsty trees so you must make sure that you water them regularly for the first two years after planting. There should be no need to prune the tree, but if you really need to remove any dead wood or problematic branches, only do so in winter as Morus tends to bleed rather badly when cut. Mulch in the sutumn with compost or leaf mould. The only problem you really need to look out for is powdery mildew which appears in the summer. Other than that, mulberries seem to repel fungus, which is why grape vines are often trained through them to avoid botrytis.

Don’t expect any fruit for the first four or five years, but when they appear, eat them as soon as you’ve picked as mulberries don’t last very long. What a good excuse.

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