Planted just a couple of years ago, my garden’s baby medlar tree has produced precisely eight fruits this summer, a fact of which I am ludicrously proud. If I could cluck, I would. I am already imagining the flavour – a taste reminiscent of a combination of ripe apricots, dates, citrus and apple – and making home-made medlar jelly. I’m also looking forward to following the centuries-old tradition of bletting the fruits so that they reach that all-important point of ripeness, perfectly perched on just the right side of decay.
This medium-sized, hardy deciduous tree, which is both ornamental and productive, has a fascinating history stretching back several thousand years, which is part of its peculiar charm. Archaeologists have discovered its seeds in the cesspits of ancient Roman villas, Charlemagne demanded it be grown in all his gardens, the poet Dryden wrote of its “goodly show”, while Shakespeare famously referenced the distinctive, somewhat obscene shape of the fruits. As regards the latter, this is also echoed in its many different common names, which include “monkey’s bottom” and “open arse”.
Despite its long history of cultivation, you’re highly unlikely to ever come across ripe medlars for sale in even the most chichi of food halls, mainly for the reason that the ripe, bletted fruit is almost impossible to transport without damaging it. Instead it belongs to a coterie of uncommon fruits generally best known by those who grow them. Recommended varieties include ‘Nottingham’ (small but very flavoursome fruits); and ‘Westerveld’ (very productive with larger fruits).
Also belonging to this distinctive group is the Chilean guava, of which I wrote earlier this year. Think juicy strawberries with the tang of kiwi and a tropical undertone of pineapple. In the right growing conditions, this acid-loving, moisture-loving, ericaceous shrub will be laden down with ripe scarlet juicy berries by late autumn. It’s also evergreen and will do just fine in a large tub or container, where it’s a good choice for small courtyard gardens or alkaline soils.
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For those who like their plants on the snazzy side, seek out the variety known as Ugni molinae ‘Flambeau’, which has colourful, pink and green variegated leaves. Just make sure to give this compact shrub a sheltered spot with protection from cold winter winds and harsh frosts.
Traditionally suitable only for large gardens (although there are compact varieties available), the fruit of the mulberry tree is another that’s very unlikely to be stocked by your local supermarket, again due to its famously delicate skin and short shelf life. Large and juicy, it tastes like a cross between a blackberry and a raspberry with a hint of gooseberry.
For the best taste and greatest ability to tolerate a damp soil as well as its impressively statuesque silhouette, seek out the black mulberry, Morus nigra, which the food writer Jane Grigson loved for its intensely-flavoured fruit. The centuries-old variety known as Morus ‘Chelsea’, which can reach a height and spread of 9m or more, is a vegetal clone of a black mulberry tree planted during the reign of England’s King James I, which grew in London’s Chelsea Physic Garden until it was cut down to make room for an air raid shelter during the second World War.
For something much more compact, seek out the modern, dwarf variety known as Morus ‘Mojo Berry’ or Morus ‘Charlotte Russe’, which fruits from a very early age and over several months, beginning in early summer and continuing into late autumn. Compact enough to grow in a large pot, it reaches an average height and spread of just 1m-2m. Not suitable for a cold, exposed spot or a plot with a heavy, wet soil, all mulberry trees need a warm, sunny, sheltered garden and a friable, moist but free-draining soil to flourish. The good news is that all varieties are self-fertile, so don’t need a pollinating partner.
Just like the mulberry, the boysenberry’s famously juicy, tender-skinned fruit rules it out from being stocked in shops and supermarkets. But this hardy, complex hybrid species – thought to be a genetic cross between the loganberry, the raspberry, the blackberry and the dewberry, is famed for its large, lusciously plump, flavoursome berries which also contain a hint of blackcurrant.
Perfect for eating straight off the plant or using in pies, tarts and jams, this self-pollinating soft fruit reaches a height and spread of 2m x 1.5m and needs to be trained against a series of tensioned horizontal wires either secured against a wall or between strong vertical posts. Alternatively, where space is tight, it can be grown in a large pot with the support of an obelisk or sturdy canes. Just make sure to give it a fertile, moist but free-draining soil or a good quality compost, as well as a warm, sunny, sheltered spot where its summer fruit can easily ripen.
All the above can be planted this autumn once soil moisture levels recover, either as container-grown plants or as bare-root specimens, guaranteeing you a fruit garden with a difference in the years to come. Recommended Irish stockists include futureforests.ie, mrmiddleton.com, quickcrop.ie and all good Irish garden centres.
This week in the garden
Make a careful note of glaring gaps in the late summer/early autumn flower garden and take a few photographs on your phone as a reminder.
If you don’t have time in the coming weeks to properly weed and mulch empty vegetable beds for winter, then chop/strim down any weedy growth to soil level and leave it as a temporarily weed-suppressing mulch on the ground until you’re ready to properly prep it, making sure to remove and bin any ripe seedheads before you do so.
Dates for your diary
- Garden Open Day at Fruitlawn Garden Abbeyleix, Co Laois; Sunday, September 14th, 10am-5pm. In the home of garden designer Arthur Shackleton and artist Carol Booth, with plant sales and refreshments, see arthurshackleton.com.
- Sculpture in Context at the National Botanic Gardens Glasnevin, Dublin 9. Continuing until Friday October 10th. sculptureincontext.ie, botanicgardens.ie.
