Ruth Nakamura · July 24, 2026
I’m kneeling in the mulch near my patio’s edge, pushing back the accumulated debris with my fingers to check on something that’s been bothering me for weeks. There—just under the surface—is a root, thicker than I expected, and I can trace it snaking toward the concrete. It’s the moment when all that fruit and shade … Read more
Ruth Nakamura · July 20, 2026
Table of Contents Unlocking the Mulberry: A Journey from Sweet to Tart What is a Mulberry and Why Should You Try It? A Sneak Peek into the Mulberry Flavor Spectrum From Branch to Bowl: Best Practices for Harvesting and Using Mulberries How to Know When Mulberries Are Ripe for Picking Tips for Cleaning and Storing … Read more
Ruth Nakamura · July 19, 2026
Table of Contents The Unforgettable Flavor of Shahtoot: An Introduction to Pakistan Mulberries What Makes Pakistan Mulberries (Shahtoot) So Special? A Taste of Summer: Why You Should Be Cooking with Mulberries Sweet Shahtoot Sensations: Authentic Pakistani Mulberry Dessert Recipes The Ultimate Refresher: Classic Shahtoot ka Sharbat (Mulberry Drink) Ingredients: Instructions: A Creamy Dream: How to … Read more
Ruth Nakamura · July 10, 2026
Are you staring at a mulberry tree with those strange knobby stumps at the top, wondering if something went terribly wrong — or if this was actually intentional? Yes: someone did this on purpose, and it’s been done to mulberries for centuries. But before you assume you should do the same, there’s something crucial you … Read more
Ruth Nakamura · July 10, 2026
I pulled a carboy off my kitchen refrigerator after three weeks and uncapped it to find something that smelled more like a chemistry lab than fruit wine — harsh, burning, with that unmistakable rubbing-alcohol bite that made me cringe. Same five pounds of mulberries, same yeast packet, same exact recipe I’d used the week before … Read more
Ruth Nakamura · July 10, 2026
You encounter two very different pieces of advice online about pruning dwarf mulberries. One source tells you to cut back hard each year to maintain the compact size; another warns you never to prune below a certain point. The first piece of advice is fundamentally wrong for grafted patio mulberries like the Mojo, and it … Read more
Ruth Nakamura · July 4, 2026
It was an unusually dry spell that May — the kind that catches you off-guard in the Pacific Northwest — and I found myself watering my young white mulberry more frequently than usual. As I worked through the canopy one afternoon, refilling the soaker hose, I stopped cold. The leaves staring back at me seemed … Read more
Ruth Nakamura · July 4, 2026
Standard fruit-tree nursery tags won’t tell you that black mulberries stubbornly resist cuttings, or that a seedling might spend a decade producing nothing but leaves and male flowers. Garden books treat mulberries as an afterthought, if they mention them at all. The propagation advice buried in those sources assumes you’re working with something cooperative—apples, pears, … Read more
Ruth Nakamura · June 28, 2026
There’s a particular smell to a deck stain that’s been baking in the sun all summer—something between varnish and wood dust—and that’s exactly what I noticed the moment my neighbor appeared with that sheepish grin. A mulberry branch, thick as a small tree limb, lay sprawled across her fence line like an unwelcome guest. Beneath … Read more
Ruth Nakamura · June 26, 2026
Most new mulberry growers assume that your USDA Hardiness Zone is destiny—that if you’re in Zone 5, you pick from the Zone 5 mulberries, and that settles it. But I’ve learned through growing twelve different cultivars that this assumption crumbles the moment you actually compare what different mulberry species can tolerate. The real story is … Read more
