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Unusual & Old Fashioned Fruit Trees |
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Blackberry
Blackberries have a much thicker
stem than Raspberries, are not fussy about Apart from true Blackberries there are many Raspberry/Blackberry "Hybrids" or "Crosses" that are commonly available to buy, of which the Boysenberry, Loganberry and Tayberry are perhaps the most popular. From time to time others berries are introduced, some of which are not "Hybrids" at all such as the Dewberry that is grown extensively in America and almost unheard of in England. Similarly the Japanese Wineberry is a completely different species and is in fact a member of the Rubus family. |
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The country past time of going
“Blackberrying” down winding lanes on a warm, sunny Autumn day,
has long been a favourite of children for generations. They love to
“ferret” through the rambling hedges getting the odd prickle in
the process to find the ripest, juiciest Blackberries and at the end
of the day they return home with their hands and faces stained with
the dark purple juice from the berries. Very often the wicker baskets
they have been given to fill by optimistic mothers are practically
empty as what fruits they have found have been eaten during their
foraging. Nobody in their right mind would ever dream of deliberately
planting a Blackberry in their garden as the wild, rampant plants,
with their vicious little thorns, spread like wildfire by sucker and
seed dropped by birds. However, this is no longer true as there are
some compact and thorn less-varieties that also have a much-improved
cropping potential.
where they grow and as such
need a little less care and attention generally than raspberries.
Fruiting time is late summer, much the same as for late Raspberries,
but they do not need netting like Raspberries, as although birds will
take some fruit it won’t be as much as it would for most soft fruit.