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Fruit of the month

Of all fruit, none personifies autumn more than the blackberry. With the hedgerows packed with delicious fruit there are few pastimes more pleasant than going blackberry picking in the late summer/early autumn sunshine. But if you are a lover of this wonderful fruit, you’ll be pleased to know that they are easy to grow at home. They are not fussy about soil and pruning is a doddle (simply remove the old canes after fruiting and tie in the new growth). Blackberries almost always provide good yields and the fruit produced by most modern hybrids is far larger than the wild hedgerow plant.

You will need plenty of space since, with a few exceptions, blackberries are vigorous plants that produce long, tough canes. Many are armed with vicious thorns, however, there are some excellent thornless varieties on offer in the catalogues for those preferring to pick without pain!

The fact that they are fruits of the hedgerow offers another advantage; blackberries will tolerate shade well and so you will find that they can be grown in spots in the garden where few other fruits would thrive. This said, they do need some sunshine each day if they are to produce their best crops and to encourage pollinating insects to visit when the flowers are open.

The conditions and training required are very similar to that of raspberries (KG July, p17), but the essentials are that the soil is moisture retentive, but free draining and that for best results, the canes are given a dressing of well-rotted manure or garden compost each year in the spring.
If you have the room for a few varieties try selecting to provide the longest cropping season possible (see below); the earliest start in mid-July and the latest crop in September and into October.

For more advice, see this month's issue, available to buy online!

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