Posted by Janet Harriett on Jun.21, 2010

ⓒ iStockPhoto - ObjectifMC

Bramble fruits - blackberries, raspberries and their related varieties like boysenberries and dewberries - are also fairly easy to grow. In many areas, bramble plants have escaped cultivation and become weeds, easily found on roadsides or in woodlands. I have run that in reverse in my own fruit garden and domesticated some wild black raspberries that were growing as a weed in a wild spot on my property, after first carefully determining that they were, in fact, edible.

Many blackberries and raspberries pretty much grow themselves, needing a gardener’s intervention mainly to keep the patch clear of weeds and older, non-producing vines.  Bramble berries pack a nutritional punch and don’t travel well, so they’re often prohibitively expensive in supermarkets. The ease of growing and expense of buying makes blackberries and raspberries a prime candidate for home growing.

When you grow your own bramble fruits, you can choose black, purple or yellow raspberries in addition to the many varieties of red raspberries. While all blackberries are black, the cultivars vary immensely in flavor. You can also grow crosses like marionberries and boysenberries that are considered gourmet food in many areas, as long as your climate cooperates. Though marionberries aren’t supposed to be hardy in my USDA zone, I manage to nurse a small patch through the winters and get a few handfuls every summer.

Unlike strawberries, brambles are more of a screening plant. Brambles grow as long, often thorny, canes that, depending on the variety, may stand up (erect varieties) or trail low to the ground (trailing varieties). Raspberries and blackberries make nice hedges and backdrops, but aren’t much of a focal point plant.

Most brambles sucker prolifically, sending up new shoots from the root structure even on the other side of a fence, so keep the neighbors in mind when you plant raspberries and blackberries near a property line. The suckers can be dug and transplanted, so a couple of plants can fill out a whole hedgerow in a few years with minimal upfront costs, if you’re willing to wait.  Brambles also start muscling in on the adjoining garden area, so be prepared to dig out strays or mow them over with the lawnmower.

With a few exceptions, blackberries and raspberries produce fruit on vines that are 2 years old, so you’ll need to wait until at least the second year after planting to get any fruit. In my experience, bramble plants often don’t start producing well until their third year, since the plants spend the first year establishing a root structure more than the vines that would fruit the second year after planting.

After individual canes are two years old, they don’t fruit and should be removed to keep the bramble patch tidy and disease free. Some growers wait until the plants are dormant to prune out the old canes. I cut them out soon after the last berry is picked, while I can remember which vines had fruit and which did not, since I don’t trellis my berries. The Cooperative Extension Service recommends trellising raspberries and trailing blackberries, which aside from keeping the berries off the ground allows gardeners to sort the first-year and second-year canes; however, I let mine grow naturally and just nudge the vines about where I want them to grow. With attention to pruning and a layer of mulch under the plants, I find the trellis unnecessary.

Many blackberries and raspberries have large, sharp thorns on the vines. Wear long sleeves and pants when picking raspberries and blackberries to protect yourself from scratches. In my experience, gloves get in the way of the light touch needed to harvest berries without crushing them. During berry harvest season, a few scratches on hands are inevitable, and the only preventative measure that works well is being very diligent about where hands go in the thicket, and learning to grab canes by two fingers between the thorns to move them when necessary to get to a bunch of good-looking berries.

One other advantage of growing your own blackberries and raspberries is that you get access to both the leaves and the fruit. The leaves of both types of bramble plants can be made into an herbal tea. Pregnant women should avoid raspberry leaf tea, though.

Raspberries and blackberries both produce around a gallon of berries per plant each year. They don’t can well except as jam, but can be frozen spread out on trays and packed in zip-top bags or hard-sided containers for freezer storage.

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Posted under Home Environment, Organic Garden.