A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Thinking of berry bushes maybe

I am thinking of putting in some berry bushes.. like blackberry... we have some wild ones around here, but not many. We have an area down by our barn, against the barn wall, that I was thinking of putting some.

How many would I have to plant to yield a decent amount of berries.. so I could freeze some and do some cobblers..?

Thanks!

Chester Thornless blackberries will give you 15 lbs or more per plant. I suggest thornless if you are going to do blackberries. They can be major pains with the thorns. We put in 4 plants, because we were told they would only give about 4 lbs/plant. We got that the first year. Second year, we got about 12 lbs/plant, and gave two away. Third year was over 15 lbs/plant, and we found that the ones we had given away were still there. If you have a bit of patience, it only takes one plant to give you all the berries you need, as they will start from branch tips if they touch the ground. One plant will give you all of the bushes you need. One word of caution, make sure you want them where you plant them, as they are very hard to get rid of if you change your mind.
Cheers
Dan

I wish I could grow berries. Do you know which varieties do best in the West & where can I buy some berry bushes?

Thanks so much Dan!! I appreciate all that! I don't know where I want them yet.. and hubby doesn't even know I am planning these.. hehe Poor guy! spring comes and I am just a whirlwind.. he never knows what hit him.. =P

Thanks Bill!! But I think I am leaning more toward blackberries!!

Blackberry and raspberry care is so similiar that you can use the directions of one for the other---I was trained to prune & care for blackberries on raspberry canes. If I was starting over with berries, (and I am) I would begin with 3 or 4 plants. (they often come in bundles) if you find in a few years that you need more berries, you can take cuttings from the existing plants or even just bend down a branch from one plant & bury it while still attached to the mother plant. Then when you are sure it is rooted, you can cut it off so it is on its own. The wet spring weather is perfect for this.

They freeze very well and I even freeze juice so I can make fresh Jams & Jellies 'off season' Good luck.

Oh thanks JunieB!! I didn't know they were that similar. I don't care much for raspberries.. I will probably buy 3 or 4 bushes.. to start with.. I would rather have too many berries than not enough. And like you said, if I need more, I can start more later.

I just told hubby tonight that I wanted to start some this year.. and he said he thought we had to have them on a fence line.. is that true?? Do they have to have something climb on, or can they be freestanding??

Oh and I am also thinking of a blueberry bush! I found one in my Park seed catalog that I got today. I am so excited!!

I heard that's it's best to give the berry bushes support on a trellis or fence, but the spacing of the holes on the fence must be wide so air& wind can get through. You wouldn't want those berry bushes to get some disease.

Well so far, all of the blackberry bushes I have seen in my catalogs say nothing about having to support them.. so I think that is probably good.. We have electric fencing.. and if we have bushes growing up around it, it grounds it out and it doesn't work very well..

if you grow bushes, you don't need the trellis. if you grow vines, you do.

Thanks Jiffy!!