If you would like to snack on fresh berries straight from your own garden all summer long, then you should plant blackberries. In contrast to other berries, blackberries ripen gradually from July to October.
How to plant blackberries in the garden?
To plant blackberries in the garden, select the right variety, prepare a sufficiently large planting hole, fill it with humus-rich soil and provide a climbing aid such as a trellis. Planting time is between the last ground frost and April.
Choosing the right variety for your own garden
There are sometimes big differences between the different blackberry varieties in terms of growth habit and characteristics. Despite their very aromatic fruits, wild blackberry plants should only be planted in your own garden after careful consideration. These tend to spread very widely via the widely branched blackberry roots and can only be removed with great effort after a few years. The various cultivars are better suited for growing large fruits because they grow less and can be controlled more compactly. Basically, the blackberry varieties available in specialist stores today can be classified according to three criteria:
- Blackberries with or without thorns
- upright growing or strong climbing blackberries
- Blackberries with black or red fruits
Prepare the planting hole correctly
Blackberry plants don't have very deep roots, so the planting hole only needs to be dug about 50 to 70 centimeters deep. However, they tend to spread their roots flat to the sides, which is why each planting hole should initially be dug at least as wide as it is deep. When planting or transplanting the blackberries, it can then be filled with a loose and humus-rich soil substrate. Ideally, this should already be mixed with some seasoned compost and mulched lawn clippings, so you save yourself the additional fertilization of the plants in the first year. After planting, you should thoroughly water the soil around the blackberry canes. This not only serves to supply the plants with water, but also for so-called sludging, i.e. it washes the soil into air holes around the roots that are created during planting.
Giving the blackberry vines the right support
In a sunny and wind-protected location, the canes of climbing blackberry varieties can grow up to 4.5 meters long. In contrast to upright-growing varieties, which only need a wooden stick or something similar to support their growth, climbing varieties tend to form thickets unless they are given appropriate control of the shoots. A trellis is perfect as a climbing aid for blackberries, as it not only allows the individual tendrils to be arranged clearly, but also promotes plant vitality thanks to the light and well-ventilated arrangement and thus protects against diseases.
Tips & Tricks
If you want to plant or transplant blackberry offshoots, the time between the last ground frost and April is the best time to do so. Sometimes the first fruits can even be harvested at the new location in the same year.
