BLACKBERRIES

I just came inside from a circumnavigation of our gardens. That is where I find the wild Blackberries and Raspberries. All of the raspberries are gone by, but the blackberries are "in" or "coming in"! What a joy to be able to just go and pick the natural harvest of the woodlands around our home!

Blackberries are pretty vicious. Their thorns GRAB your skin, clothing and hats with unrequited joy it seems! But, they are worth the scratches and shrieks. There are tons of them that are still not ready, so assuming I can beat the local black bear, I should be able to have blackberries, fresh with our cereal or yogurt for awhile!

There are a few tricks to telling raspberries from blackberries. The blackberries have MUCH more viscous thorns. They just LOOK scary! Then of course, the fruit is very different. The raspberries are smaller. They are also red (the wild ones, anyway) and quite soft, so be careful when you pick them. The blackberries on the other hand just DARE you to go after them. But, as I said before, it's worth the trip! They will leave the stem readily when they are black and ready to be picked. Also, I have found that they are usually found on stems with a bit of "die-back". Brambles (raspberries and blackberries) fruit on year old branches which will die off after fruiting, so it makes sense that the branches are already beginning to fade. Anyway, that little clue will help you find the branches with fruit.

I put a link in the second sentence of this post. If you go there, you'll find all you need to know about growing raspberries and blackberries. Living where I do, I don't need to follow those directions, as I have more wild berries than I need. They are free, and don't take up any garden space. What more could I want???