Mulberries! Your correspondent is savoring a bowl of fresh picked mulberries with a scoop of ice cream, and is having trouble concentrating! It’s our first year of harvesting a decent crop of these delightfully sweet and flavourful blue-red finger-stainers, and who knows why only one of our three mulberry shrubs is producing 80% of our crop – is it the particular cultivar, the location, the soil, the microclimate, or what? Therein lies the clue to why gardening is addictive.
Our garden club had our first meeting for 2026 at Somersby Hall this week as it poured rain outside. We had planned to visit Gales Citrus, alas the rain spoiled our plans. We must reschedule, as our members were looking forward to stocking up on local citrus trees, tapping into local knowledge, and exploring their stock (there was a rumour circulating that the BEST rhubarb is from Gales!).
We had lots of great garden discussion, and our member Cathie gave a great presentation on ‘Birds of the Central Coast’ with only minutes notice. As a local wildlife carer, she gave an insightful perspective on our local birdlife, and a few surprising facts (including that rainbow lorikeets are nasty patients). There was a great range of competition plant entries (including our very early quince being pipped at the post by Sue’s perfect parsley), and lots of plants to swap and share.
Back at home in our garden during February the dahlias, zinnias, and roses are flowering superbly, the orchard is pumping out quince very early (making lovely pectin-strong quince paste) while the citrus is looking promising for winter harvesting. Tomatoes are producing nicely, and a new ‘experiment’ providing delicious diversion is ‘sandpaper figs’ – pea sized figs that are just perfect halved on a piece of cheddar cheese with an aperitive whilst preparing dinner.
Our friendly neighbour, the other Dooralong Dave, dropped off a Bunya Pine Cone (all 10 kgs of it!), which is proving a rabbit’s-warren of study on how to cook the bloody thing. Baking has proved the most successful, but all taste-tests of the results have failed to raise a smile. I humbly suggest that pine nuts in pesto are far more enjoyable than bunya pine, but perhaps there are secrets I am not aware of?
Being enjoyed with the morning coffee is Vasili’s Garden @vasilisgardenofficial – this fellow from Victoria has been creating gardening content for at least a decade, and he is very down to earth and practical.
Our next meeting will be on Monday 9th March. We welcome new members and visitors to Kulnura and Districts Garden Club – it’s a wonderful club, and a great way to be introduced to local gardens and gardening knowledge! Please email [email protected] for information about meetings, membership, or any other questions.
Get out into the garden and enjoy!
Dooralong Dave
