Blackberries and blueberries.

[Hinotori]

They really need the sun to ripen the berries. We have Himalayan blackberries all over. We just really don't get warm enough or enough sun here. The blackberries that were in the sun ripened nicely and I picked all of those. The ones in the shade had a few ripen before the frost, but they were mostly just green berries.

I'm trying to encourage the native trailing blackberries to grow under the trees. Those will actually ripen in the shade since they are native to our forests here. They don't get as big and there are male and female plants. They also put up with the water.

I did plant some boysenberries and red raspberries in the garden last year. Those did well and should fruit well this year. The golden raspberries I planted the year before didn't make it.

I planted two thornless blackberries last year as well. They did well until Hubby ran them over with the mower. They came back enough to feed their roots for the winter. They are still out there growing slowly. I was surprised their leaves didn't brown and fall off like all the other brambles. I think they grew an inch last month. Those things I'll let take over some.

 

[Hinotori]

Oh, and blueberries will grow just fine in large pots. My only issue has been the pests, but I'm going to put the 7ft netting around them this year so the chickens can't get to them. I will be planting them out this year because I'm going to be getting more and have a small 30x30 plot of them. I have a nice spot picked out by my serviceberries.

I'm planning on putting in some salal in the rocky area by the fence and am thinking of putting in oregon grape along the front fenceline.

 

[pinkfox]

for acidity for the blueberries they LOVE pine needle mulch!!!

 

[DebFred]

Enjoying all this input. Sorry I was gone a while. My laptop was in the shop. I felt like part of me was missing....Sad, considering when I was growing up, we didn't even have a phone or TV for years.

Anyway, I am seriously thinking about planting some blackberries and raspberries around the perimeter of our yard. We don't have any fencing, and the area is fairly rural. Then if they grow well, that will be 1: less to mow and 2: a natural fence so maybe I could let our chickens that we don't have yet free range if I am outside with them.

Are raspberries brambles?

Thanks All!

DebFred

 

[BarredBuff]

Yes, raspberries along with blackberries are bramble fruits.

 

[heatherlynnky]

We raise blueberries and black berries. We don't do much of anything special. In the spring they get a ring of chicken and woodshaving compost. Its a ring that is not right on top of the roots and its older poo. Anywho then we just put a super think layer of pine needles that our pine trees shed. I gather of just 2 bushes at least 8 gallons of blue berries every year and a gallon or so of blackberries. If I was more faithful the black berries would do better, but I'm not.

 

[DebFred]

I love raspberries and blackberries. Hubby loves blue berries. Will try all three.

 

[txcanoegirl]

We have blackberries and dewberries. The dewberries grow wild on our fenceline. We don't do anything special for them. They can spread to other areas, but we mow up to the fenceline, so they are contained. Being on the fence makes them easier to pick than when they are in a heap of brambles growing wild. Dewberries are probably more regional than the blackberries, so I'll describe them for you. They are smaller and sweeter than blackberries, but very similar. I like them better because the seeds are much smaller. Our blackberries are more cultivated in that we have then on a fence row in the garden. Both types of berries produce on the new growth, not the old cane. I don't do any maintenance on the dewberries, but for the blackberries, we cut back the old cane in the summer (about August). The new growth is already coming up, and those are the ones the next crop of berries will be on. The blackberries on the fence in the garden are easier to pick because I can get to both sides. I have picked these berries growing wild also, but I don't like it because they are hard to get to and the big pile of brambles is really nice snake habitat! Much easier on the back to pick from fences than piles of brambles, too!

I took these photos today, so they aren't very pretty. New growth is sparse right now, but you can see how we're growing them.

Dewberries...they grow the entire length of this fence, from the front corner, all the way to the back corner. The ones that get a little shade during the day are usually sweeter, juicier, and plumper. We have a few that have sprung up around the base of trees. I let them be most of the time, although they sometimes get mowed down.

Blackberries in the garden. We have two varieties...one was purchased (the row pictured in the garden), the other was given by a friend to my father, decades ago. These aren't pictured, different part of the yard, but we grow them the same way on a fence row in part of an older garden. The older variety from the friend has smaller seeds and is much sweeter. We like them better and will probably end up propogating them and replacing the purchased variety.

Dewberries and blackberries are delicious...whether eaten fresh, right off the vine, or sprinkled with sugar. I make a killer dewberry (or blackberry) sweet bread. The berries are used interchangeably in recipes. I also make lots of jams and jellies and plain juice, which I can. Can them using the same instructions in your canning book you'd use for apple juice. We drink the juice plain, no sugar added. I also add the juice to iced tea. Haven't tried making tea from the leaves yet, but that's on my list of things to try.

We don't have blueberries yet, but they do grow in our area (southeast Texas) and are on our list for the master plan for the garden and orchard.

Hope this was helpful.

Jill

 

[so lucky]

One of my mom's favorite things to make for my dad was blackberry dumplings. She made them for me, too. Eating them while still hot was like sinking into heaven. She would strain the juice from the berries to get rid of the seeds, and drop home made dumplings into the boiling sweetened juice. You can probably imagine how good this is, served with a dollop of vanilla ice cream. Oh my!

 

[txcanoegirl]

Well now, that sounds like something I need to try! What's the dumpling recipe to go with that?