Blackberry Befuddlement
First, let me preface this post by saying that I am a smart person well-versed in researching complicated problems. I can take a 45 page federal grant document and parse it into a beautiful proposal with every i- dotted and every t-crossed. But for some reason, I CANNOT figure out how to plant my blackberries!!! I have read and read and read garden forum posts, Extension Service publications and the growing guide my blackberries came with and I am still just as lost as I was when I started.
It all started last summer when I went online to White Flower farm to order a few tomato plants. The tomato order turned into an order for some alpine strawberries (a lesson in frustration in my zone, but that’s another story for another time) and two blackberries: Chester and Triple Crown.
When the plants arrived, the planting instructions for the blackberries alone was 3 pages. So I followed them to a T and then planted the berries in a couple of large pots and there they sat all year. Now I have come back to them in the hopes of getting some actual berries this year and that’s when things went to hell.
Primocane? Floricane? Which ones do you trellis? Which ones do you cut? Should the trellis have 2 wires and how high should they be? I thought blackberries were like weeds that would just grow with little or no care?!
This weekend I took the plunge and cleared out a long narrow bed by my greenhouse, concocted a trellis and transplanted the berries. I have no idea if they will grow because I still have no idea, even after hours of reading, how to plant those darn things. I guess we’ll see. If anyone has any advice, I would love to hear it!
Beth,
Too funny! We have problems getting rid of blackberries in the gardens along the pond. They were planted by birds. Drop them in a hole and let them do their thing. They grow here in the gravel, clay soil or fancy amended garden soil. The ones that fruit drink water from the pond during the droughts we get and we always get a few cobblers out of them.
I never thought about the challenges of planting blackberries, they grow wild all over our property (although the deer and birds get the fruit). As such, I don’t really have any good advice, but I do hope your blackberries do well for you this season.
This year will be my second year planting blackberries. My first go-round I got some cheap ones. They never fruited, but boy did they grow! I didn’t do anything special with them when planting. Not sure why they never fruited. After 6 years of waiting, I tore them out. And they were pretty easy to get rid of too!
This year I have done my homework and will be choosing Triple Crown thornless. I wasn’t planning on any complicated planting, but now you have me wondering…
Dear Bethany, I am so sorry that you are having problems with growing blackberries. Believe me, I am continuing to have a problem posting comments on your website – this is a new way in which I very much hope is going to work. Just like your blackberries, keep on trying!!
A very happy Easter.
Dear Bethany, I think that I have success. Now all I need to know is how to subscribe so that I have notification of all your postings. But do not worry, I shall find a way – as you will with those wretched blackberries. After all, we can put people on the moon [although in my case, not personally!].
We also have wild blackberries which just take over.
If it was me, i would have done just as you have , cross my fingers and hope they are as tough as the wild ones, and will just do their thing and reward you with lots of fruit.
Good luck! Hopefully you get the rewards of tons of wonderful berries!
I am glad to hear that my blackberries may well survive in spite of my best efforts:) Thanks for your encouragement. They seem to be happy so far, but only time will tell if I get any juicy cobblers this year!