Picking Homegrown Blackberries
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The first ripe blackberries on my cattle panel arbor. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)
Picking Homegrown Blackberries
I have been thinking about doing this for years.
The garden dream was to set up arbors of some sort where I could grow blackberries and pick the fruit as I walked under the arbors.
Two years ago, I put up two cattle panels to guide visitors into my hillside apiary. I covered some of the panels with cedar boughs to cover some of the metal. At the same time, I planted thornless Navajo blackberries on either side so the blackberry canes could grow over the cattle panels.
The cedar boughs add extra support for the vines as they make their way over the cattle panels.
Two cattle panels covered in cedar boughs have blackberries nestled along the sides. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)
It’s hard to estimate how long plants will provide fruit on my Missouri hillside garden. My semi-dwarf pear tree took almost 30 years before it grew my first Bartlett pears. A limestone hill is difficult for root systems to get established.
At the end of July, I started to see the beginning of blackberries. They tend to flower in May, when the nectar flow starts where I live. Once the flowers finish blooming, the plant turns them into fruit, which contains the seeds.
As I started to spot ripe blackberries, my dream came through. I would walk through the archway and pick a handful of berries.
Two more blackberries ready for picking as I walk through! (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)
There truly is nothing better than picking blackberries and eating them straight off the plants!
I don’t use chemicals or pesticides in my garden so I can freely pick the fruit without being concerned about their exposure.
These are also thornless blackberries, so reaching through the cattle panels to pick the fruit is quite easy.
I will be adding compost mixed in mulch this fall, getting the blackberry plants ready for more blooming, and fruiting, next year.
Love it when a plan comes together!
Charlotte
