It's Blackberry Time!

For a few weeks each year I am able to enjoy one of my favorite fruits: Blackberries. These perennial canes grow rapidly, are easy to care for, and produce some great fruit.

Blackberries are expensive to buy in your grocery store since the fruits are fragile and have a short shelf life. These fruits are made to be eaten the same day they are picked. I love them right off the vine. Here's a pic of the snack I had today when I went out to complete the daily chores.

Blackberries are nice to work with compared to raspberries and other ribes since blackberries come in everbearing, thornless varieties. This extends the harvest and is easier on your hands. We have raspberries but I hardly ever do much with them since the fruit is so small and the canes are covered with thorns.

We have several blackberry canes trained up some fencing. They don't have to be tied up as they do support themselves a little bit, but as they grow they will tend to flop down so I just stick each cane through the fence when its about three feet long and then loop it back through when it's about five feet. Each cane only grows the first year, bears fruit the second year then dies. We have never had to prune, but I see that we are getting more canes than we need this year so I will be separating some to plant elsewhere. This is what our current setup looks like:

Blackberries want full sun and well drained soil. They prefer soil that is a bit acidic, so mulching with pine straw is usually a good idea. Be sure to give other plants and trees a wide berth as ribes are not the best neighbors and blackberries are the worst of the lot. If not attended to, they will spread and attempt to choke the life out of anything in their path. We have ours in their own "island" that we can mow around.

Blackberries are great in cobblers or pies, make great jams and preserves, and can pretty much be used in any recipe in place of raspberries, blueberries, or strawberries. Our latest idea was a spinach salad with blackberries, strawberries, and pecans. A touch of raspberry/walnut vinaigrette made this salad really pop.

If your interested in sustainable agriculture, permaculture, homesteading, or just like fresh fruit, try blackberries. You won't be sorry!