Blackberries

Blackberries

For my first post I thought I'd start with the ever familiar blackberry. What? This isn't my first post? Well technically no, but rants aren't exactly posts. They have no technical information; think of them more like the editorial sections. I wanted to start with blackberries because they are the most familiar to a lot of people and probably the easiest to grow. And unless you live in the middle of a concrete jungle I like to call a city then you probably have a blackberry currently growing not more than 50 yards away.

For this post I'm going to stick with strictly the average blackberry. There are over a hundred different varieties. Did you know that Marionberries, loganberries, and boysenberries are all types of blackberries? You did? Well why don't you go start your own berry blog then? I will leave some of the more specific varieties for another post.

Blackberries belong in the genus Rubus in the Rosaceae family. That's the Rose family for all of you who don't speak Latinese. This same genus also includes raspberries, tayberries, and pretty much anything commonly referred to as brambles.

Physical description:

Blackberries can be divided up into two basic groups, upright and trailing. If you really need me to explain the difference between upright and trailing then I can but I also might just tell you to refer to the dictionary. What do I look like, an English teacher? No offense to any English teachers out there who by no fault of their own look just like everybody else. The leaves grow in clusters of three as seen here.

Leaves grow in clusters of three

To distinguish between poison oak which also grows in clusters of three leaves apply a liberal amount of the leaf to sensitive areas of your body. Wait several days. If a rash occurs then the plant you are looking at is most likely poison oak. Or if you'd like to take the sensible approach you can look for large thorns and flowers which grow on blackberries and not poison oak.

The flowers are arranged with five petals as seen here.

Blackberry flowers

This is actually a characteristic of the rose family.

Wild Rose

Apple Blossom

 

 

 

 

 

Apple trees are also in the rose family (random bit of trivia)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Growing:

As the flowers bloom and start to grow berries you will notice something called the leader berry. See the above picture an you'll notice there are several leader berries per cluster. These will ripen first sometimes a week or two before the rest of the cluster does.

Primocane vs floracane

The canes of the plant start out the first year called primocanes. They will grow around four to five feet and then start to arch over. Or if you live here in the Pacific Northwest they tend to reach the size of a small giraffe. The primocanes usually do not have any berries depending on the variety. The second year these become the floracanes. The floracanes will produce offshoot canes that produce the berries. After the second year these canes go into retirement and die.

Here is a picture of an eager primocane attempting to take over the Universe.  Notice the lack of flowers.

Primocane reaching for the sky

Garden Rant

What's so wrong with blackberries? Huh? I'm not sure what the view on them is where you live but here in Oregon they are considered a weed. People actually despise them for some reason. Sure they take over all your space, sure they spread out with their long gangly limbs looking awkward in your yard, sure they don't like to be touched and will defend themselves with thorns, sure they take deep root and are impossible to kick out. But aren't most teenagers the same?

They are also at the same time so giving. I mean, we're talking free food here. People pay as much as $5/lb for blackberries in the store. I can go out in my backyard and pick a bowl full for breakfast every day during harvest season. For those of you who don't own a suit of metal plated armor you can actually buy thornless blackberries. That's right, you heard me. No thorns, just deliciousness. If you take the time to have a good setup for growing blackberries it can be an easy, rewarding, and yummy experience!