Garden Journal 2011 {Blackberries}

This lil' guy dropped my camera on it's lens and few months ago, so I was using my camera phone for a few weeks until it was replaced.  This picture cracks me up because of two things; first, he's inner struggle is apparent as his brothers yell at him that he is not allowed to pick the berries while his mom is taking a picture of him all while trying not to get poked!  Second, the rakes stuck in the bush in attempt to hold them up.  I staked the bushes really well in March, but by the end of April they were out of control.  This is amusing to me because just last year we had nothing but a stick that produced 2 berries (last picture in that post).

Now, blackberries are no fun to trim.  I lived with thorns in my fingers for a few weeks, everyday I would curse them when I bumped the thorn just right and it hurt like the dickens.  This fall they are going to need loads more trimming than I did this year, not looking forward to it. There has got to be some puncture resistant gloves that go past the elbows.  I learned that they are basically weeds, they grow runners underground and pop up in random places.  These are what we dug up from my in laws and planted just over one year ago.  They stayed green all year long, through the long, miserable heat and the hard freezes.

I was very happy with the production this year.  I would estimate that I brought in around 10 lbs over the 6 weeks they were in production.  We learned early on that they need to stay on days past turning from red to black, or they were way too sour.  When left to fully ripen, they were soft and plump and juicy and would release easily from the plant.  If it was half eaten, those were the best of the best.  Birds have good taste in food, though the black berries were one of the few things in the garden this year that they left us our fair share.
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