"Growing Blackberries"

Growing blackberries in your garden will delight anyone who loves a blackberry pie! Blackberries are traditionally collected from wild brambles but unfortunately, these days, with car pollution and farming products, wild blackberries aren't necessarily safe to pick from the side of the road or between fields in rural areas.

If you have the space, a bramble dividing hedge is perfect in the garden. And thornless varieties are readily available now so picking isnt such a dangerous business!

Blackberries are very hardy plants although the new hybrid varieties will be less hardy than the wild brambles that appear readily in any undisturbed patch of land. Rather like nettles, brambles will come up where you least want them, but perhaps a little adaption would be a good idea to accomodate these wonderful gifts from nature :-)

Blackberry leaves are high in vitamin C content and make a wonderful tisan, and the fruit of the bramble - the blackberry - is one of the sweetest tastiest fruits to eat. They are best eaten fresh, but can be made into delicious pies, tarts and crumbles, and of course jams and preserves.

Growing Blackberries and where to start...

If you already have a bramble patch, a little pruning and planning can turn it into a fruiting hedge for many years to come - although wear thick gardening gloves when pruning brambles.Otherwise, its probably best to go for one of the thornless varieties.

In the US Amazon have many different varieties of blackberries - Blackberry, Chester 1-year

And in the UK, Crocus have a thornless popular type: Type in 'blackberries' in the search box on their homepage and you'll go directly to the right page! Growing Blackberries in the UK

Blackberries are a very hardy plant and will normally go through heavy frosts and snow without suffereing any damage, but check on your variety for special growing conditions if any.

The older thorny varieties will nearly always be hardier and tend to produce more fruit for more years than the newer thornless types.

Growing Blackberries: Planting Although I have never heard of anyone starting their blackberry patch from seed , the plants must start somewhere so it's got to be possible! However its probably quicker and more reliable to buy blackberry canes already for planting.

Generally they wont need a support system, but if you wish to train them into a particular shape or keep them restricted, a few supports that they can climb on could be a good idea.

Plant the blackberry plants around 5 ft ( one and a half metres ) apart and 10 ft ( 3 metres ) apart in rows - although its always best to check on planting instructions when you buy the plants. Different varieties will need different growing room. The best time to plant blackberry plants is in the autumn - October time is ideal.

Water in well and keep weed free and watered until well established. Blackberries are very hardy plants and they are unlikely to get viruses or be attacked by bugs - with the new hybrid varieties there is always a chance so keep an eye on your new plants.

Blackberries can be grown in large containers if you havent the space in your vegetable garden.

Growing Blackberries: Harvesting The worst enemy will be the birds. If you can net the plants with a bird friendly netting system just before the fruit appears, you can guarantee on a full crop. Don't use any old netting as birds can get tangled and damage their wings. Pick your fruit as soon as it's ripe and eat fresh, or if you have plenty, make blackberry and apple pies and crumbles, or even jams and preserves.

Blackberries dont store well, although they can be frozen they are never as nice. Eat fresh or if you have a huge crop, make into jams and jellies.

Happy Gardening!

More "Blackberry" reading

http://www.flower-and-garden-tips.com/growingblackberries.html