Blackberries are one of the most widely cultivated types of berry that can be found throughout the world, and they can make a wonderful addition to your diet in everything from puddings through to jams and preserves.
They’re one of the best superfoods that nature has to offer, and they’re much higher in vitamins like vitamin C than even fruits like oranges. But the best thing about them is this: You don’t have to go to the store and buy them, especially with the prices of blackberries on the increase.
Blackberry bushes can grow happily under the right conditions, and you can harvest for a good ten to twenty years from a plant that’s treated right and well taken care of. They’re not as hard to plant as new gardeners might imagine, and they trail happily along a trellis or path.
Here are 8 steps for planting & harvesting blackberry plants.
Step 1: Understand Your Type of Berry
One of the most important things for first-time berry gardeners to remember is that there are several different varieties of berry out there, and each of these will have their own nuances and conditions they prefer – but at the same time, it’s not nearly as hard as you think to figure out the specifics of which type of berry you have.
When it comes to berry bushes, there are generally considered to be seven types of which blackberries are just one of them. This is further split into the different types of blackberries, of which there are considered to be three main types.
There are erect thorny blackberries, erect thornless blackberries and trailing thornless blackberries: Each requires different spacing, depth and each will trail along a frame in a different way.
The rest of the factors for growing blackberries, luckily for first-time and newer gardeners, are mostly the same for all of the different types.