Tales from the berry patch

Years ago, we planted four rows of berries - red raspberries, black raspberries, purple raspberries, gold raspberries, and blackberries. Thriving: the red raspberries; however, this year is different.

It's the takeover of the blackberries!

The first two rows were mainly red raspberries, with a few blackberry bushes thrown in. For years, we got TONS (well, not literally tons but ALOT) of red raspberries, plus a fair number of purple raspberries, with small amounts of black raspberries and gold raspberries...and MINISCULE amounts of blackberries. We might have picked one quart of blackberries last summer, and that's stretching it...but change is occurring...

The blackberries are taking over. After all these years of not doing much, suddenly they are dominating rows one and two of what I used to call the raspberry garden and which I'll now rename the berry patch. What caused the blackberries to go nuts? No idea*. But we accept the changes to the garden; we love blackberries (and thought they grew poorly in our region - little did we know). We hope some red raspberries will continue to produce - love them too.

*According to Weeds of the Great Plains, published by the Nebraska Department of Agriculture, blackberries are considered a WEED**. Go figure...

**definitions of a weed:  1)  A plant considered undesirable, unattractive, or troublesome, especially one growing where it is not wanted, as in a garden; 2) A herbaceous plant not valued for use or beauty, growing wild and rank, and regarded as cumbering the ground or hindering the growth of superior vegetation; 3) any plants that grow and reproduce aggressively and invasively

My blackberries are not undesirable, unattractive, or unwanted. However, they are becoming rather aggressive and invasive. Weed or not? Guess it's all a matter of perception!

 Here's a tunnel between the raspberries blackberries in rows one and two.

I still have mainly raspberries in rows three and four, but the blackberries have crept into three...one could wonder if it's only a matter of time until this is not a mixed berry patch, but just a blackberry patch.

Should I complain? Thin them out?

Naaaaahhhh...

"You do not "wait" for fruit. Time will go on just the same, whether you have planted a blackberry bush or not." ~adapted from a quote by C.W. Gurney

note: Photos of the blackberries in bloom taken in mid-May; photos of the actual berries taken after fruiting in June and July; heavy bearing and ripening occurred just after the 4th of July - "goodies" made then

Weigh in: Do you consider blackberries weeds?

Thanks for visiting!

Beth

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