Blackberry Plants - Planting are a delightful bramble fruit that bring a deep and luscious flavor to any summer treat. Planting blackberries is reasonably easy, and the plants are hardy and fairly easy to keep. With a little care and preparation you can bring this wonderful fruiting plant to your garden with ease.
Where to plant blackberries
Blackberries are hardy in zones 5 through 10. To start a blackberry plant, find a sunny to partially shaded area in your garden. You'll want well drained soil with a ph of between 6 and 7. All blackberry plantings will benefit from some sort of a trellis, with the trailing species of the plant very nearly requiring one.
Keep the roots of your blackberry plants moist until planting. And place the plants two feet apart with the crown of the roots no more than one half inch below the dirt's surface. It's best to work plenty of organic matter into the soil and mulch to keep out weeds.
Blackberries will do well in full sun to partial shade.
Soil for the blackberry plant
The plant prefers well drained sandy, loamy, or clay soils. The plant will do well in nutritionally poor soils and that makes it a great plant for troubled soil areas. The plant is fairly well drought tolerant.
Fast growing and invasive
Blackberry plants are not considered good companion plants and should not be planted near other species. The blackberry is a fast growing species and will take over an area. So be sure that you have plenty of space around your plantings in order to avoid the blackberry plant from taking over your other garden items.
Erect and trailing
There are two types of blackberry plant species: erect and trailing. The erect plants will grow canes that will usually support themselves, however they can benefit from a trellis system. The trailing species of the plant requires a trellis system for support. Both species of the plant will tend to bunch together producing a thicket of foliage and fruit that is known for its thorny flowering buds.
Care and growing
Plant when the soil has warmed. When planting, dig a hole deep enough as to not bend the roots. Place the plants in the hole as described earlier, and be sure to keep the plantings set apart two feet in rows seven feet apart. Blackberries produce fruits on their second year canes, and the canes will then die off. You should trim back the dead canes at the end of the season.
Harvesting
Pick the berries as soon as they have matured into very dark purple or deep red appearance.
