In midsummer, when fruit is so sweet it almost makes your teeth ache, you begin. That first bite: That’s what we’re growing for, right? It’s what made you want to plant blackberries, yet it’s also precisely where most growers go wrong. They assumes that anything is a “blackberry” or that all blackberries are the same, but that is simply not true. There’s far more going on than that, far more variation in terms of harvest timing, cane structure, even flavor.
Get that (and get why those variations matter); and you’ll have garden patch that manages itself, instead of a thorny jungle that invades your backyard.
How to Grow Blackberries in Your Garden
If you have never grown blackberries, your first choice will be do I want them thorny? If you choose old school, then yes, they are aggressive and spiky, making picking them a time-consuming (and painful) task. With thornless hybrids such as Ouachita or Triple Crown, moddern breeding mostly eradicated that issue. For the home grower, these are the celebrities, vigorous yet not physically challenging to pick.
And here’s why Ouachita stands upright on its own without needing a trellis, and why Triple Crown (which bears big shiny fruit that doesn’t get too soft) is especially beloved: It grows upright all by itself. You don’t even have to create some complex trellis for it. Why does it work? Because once you eliminate the thorns, you eliminate any obstacle to the fruit, so you end up getting to enjoy more of what you grew.
More than the fruit, it’s also important which kind of cane the plant grows on. That structure determine how easy it is to pick. The chart below shows the different growth patterns (trailing, semi-erect, and erect) of these plants. If you’re new to growing cane berries, the best ones to start with are the erect varieties. These are straight-up kinds that grows like corn stalks and support themselves easily. Then there are the arching semi-erect ones. They need only a two-wire trellis to help organize their growth, but they bear the biggest crop. Trailing ones is the wildcards; either sprawling on the ground or climbing fences, and can offer the richest wine-like flavors, including the famous Marionberry.
For top-notch taste in jams and pies, go trailing, but that means more work. Stick with the easier-to-handle erect or semi-erect if you prefer your berry harvest fresh from the bush (and no, not canned).
There’s more to timing as a tactic than meets the eye. Why take what you get; two weeks of picking? If you combine some early, mid- and late-season varieties, you’ll extend your season from June through September for fresh berries. The earliest variety I plant, Natchez (left), starts really early in summer, producing super-sweet fruit with no acidity at all; the latest one, Chester… Comes online after most others have bowed out, starting in late August. That gives me a staggered crop, so there’s always something ready to pick on the vine, and also means I don’t find myself overwhelmed by too much work at any given time. It transforms a fleeting seasonal treat into an ongoing feature of my gardening routine.
After learning the ropes, care of your blackberries is unexpectedly easy. Here’s what they want. They need full sun and well-drained, slightly acid soil. Avoid low spots because they will rot if the soil is soggy. They also can absorbs wet feet. A simple drip irrigation system keeps the foliage dry, which drastically reduces fungal issues like botrytis mold.
The other big secret to long-term good health is regular pruning. To force laterals to branch out and keep it from growing up, up and more up, all the time, tip back new shoots in spring and then remove old fruiting canes entirely after harvest. Yes, it sounds drastic, but it will train the plant to use its energy to produce fruit instead.
Oh, and don’t neglect the wildlife. Birds love blackberries (sometimes even more than we do). They can wipe out a week’s labor in an afternoon unless you install some kind of barrier, like bird netting, as soon as the fruit begins to color. It’s an investment of maybe an hour (or less) of work that pays off in weeks (and weeks!) of labor saved.
Pick a variety (or two; start with one) that suits your climate and palate, adhere strictly to the pruning routine, and reap the rewards. The initial nibble never seems so delicious as it does the first time…but the subsequent ones are always worth the wait. You should of tried them fresh!