| Author | Content |
Baa
October 03, 2002
12:14 PM Post #375723
| Bramble, Wild Blackberry
Rubus fruticosus
Ripe drupes with a small cranefly, October 2002
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/1982/
Click the image for an enlarged view.
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psilo
Bolton, Greater Manc
United Kingdom
(Zone 8a)
October 03, 2002
12:24 PM Post #375731
| Ooh Baa they look gorgeous. We are thinking of planting cultivated hybrids on our allotment though there are some wildones in the hedgerows. The children love making jam from them. |
Baa
October 03, 2002
12:40 PM Post #375744
| Psilo these are the bane of my gardening life. The garden was completely covered in brambles and encroaching on the bedroom windows when we first aquired it. I dug enough roots to dye the whole street's wardrobes with. |
arsenic
(Zone 7a)
October 03, 2002
01:06 PM Post #375769
| Mmm; bjørnebær:) |
psilo
Bolton, Greater Manc
United Kingdom
(Zone 8a)
October 03, 2002
03:50 PM Post #375924
| yes I know what you mean. They are a pest on my first allotment too. Just when you think you have got rid of them up they come somewhere else. |
philomel
Termes d'Armagnac
France
(Zone 8a)
 October 03, 2002
03:56 PM Post #375928
| I'm still fighting mine
I also have some that have evolved from a 'thornless' cultivar I bought (more fool i) They still have the lovely ferny leaves, but they also have astonishingly effective thorns!! Even worse than the wild ones - not sure how that came about :( |
psilo
Bolton, Greater Manc
United Kingdom
(Zone 8a)
October 03, 2002
04:01 PM Post #375932
| are your variety easy to control phil are do they have a tendancy to creep? |
philomel
Termes d'Armagnac
France
(Zone 8a)
October 03, 2002
04:04 PM Post #375936
| They don't creep psilo, they're rampaging round the garden!
After years of gardening without chemicals i am at last admitting defeat and using weedkiller on them (and the nettles and bindweed) |
Baa
October 03, 2002
04:45 PM Post #375972
| I admit to being a glyphosate junkie around brambles as well. Normally eveything is hand pulled but they just get so far out of control! |
psilo
Bolton, Greater Manc
United Kingdom
(Zone 8a)
October 03, 2002
04:49 PM Post #375976
| yes I know though I think I have partly beaten mine. When I took over my first plot it was full of couch grass, nettles, bind weed, maidenhair, thistles, dandelions, plantain and brambles. I seem to have most undercontrol though the brambles and couch grass are still a nuisance. Where possible I go around every week with my trowel and dig them/cut them out. I dont always get rid of them but it slows them down and in time it might weaken them. The couch grass I try to smother, but I suspect it can hold its breath for a very long time! |
philomel
Termes d'Armagnac
France
(Zone 8a)
October 03, 2002
05:08 PM Post #375996
| LOLOL I have some growing through the carpet i put down to do them in |
Baa
October 03, 2002
06:49 PM Post #376083
| Unfortunately, it's the front garden that is the worst area for pernicious weeds but because I've planted it up with some tiny wildflowers (most sown and grown by me) I can't use the mulch methods nor mechanical means to remove them.
We also have a bundle of tall, native, perennial grasses including couch grass which causes problems but they have helped to break up the heavy clay soil and been excellent protective mulches over winter for some of the less hardy plants.
I'm currently rethinking the area and will be making a post about it in the next few days. |
Terry
Murfreesboro, TN
(Zone 7a)
 October 03, 2002
09:45 PM Post #376206
| I know they're a pest when they're stubbornly persisting where you don't want them, but what a gorgeous photo of luscious fruit. "My" briar patch (several undeveloped acres, about a mile from my house) is being razed for a housing development :( No more berry picking, until I find another spot. |
Pala
Olympia, WA
(Zone 8b)
October 04, 2002
12:54 AM Post #376346
| We have them all over the Pacific Northwestern United States too and I go out and pick a few decanters full and make juice; strain it or simply puree it well in the food processor; add a little honey and it gives us a real lift. Some summers we make it like this every day and enjoy it like wine with dinner. |
psilo
Bolton, Greater Manc
United Kingdom
(Zone 8a)
October 04, 2002
02:53 AM Post #376389
| me too philomel. I couldnt believe it! :( |
Weezingreens
Seward, AK
(Zone 3b)
October 04, 2002
01:17 PM Post #376710
| Wild Blackberries! This thread and pic take me back to my youth in Indiana. Wild blackberries grew all over our 38 acres. They seemed to love the old lumber piles the best.. growing up "through things".
If I remember correctly, they don't pop off the pulp like raspberries, but they were huge and juicy. They made wonderful jelly and cobblers. Blackberries don't seem to grow here, though red raspberries grow wild.
Click the image for an enlarged view.
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philomel
Termes d'Armagnac
France
(Zone 8a)
October 04, 2002
02:06 PM Post #376762
| Oh, i prefer raspberries any day Weez, yummy! |
Weezingreens
Seward, AK
(Zone 3b)
October 04, 2002
02:12 PM Post #376782
| It seems I always yearn for what I can't have! Truth be known, the blackberries were a real pest for my poor mother who used to dress for combat and pull them out of her flower beds, etc. As a child, though, they were a play-time snack, ammunition for battling siblings, and a challenge to navigate through while wearing shorts and being bare foot. We'd often show up for dinner with purple hands and a diminished appetite! |
Lophophora
Tokyo
Japan
October 04, 2002
03:45 PM Post #376884
| Y'all are not gonna believe this, but...
I tried for years to get Blackberries to grow in my last garden (I'm a berry/sugar addict) but they just didn't thrive. No idea why. I envy you all your scourge! |
Weezingreens
Seward, AK
(Zone 3b)
October 04, 2002
10:10 PM Post #377176
| Lophophora: I think berry bramble is like cats... it has to be THEIR idea! I get wild raspberries growing in my flower beds, along my driveway and embankments, but if I try to start them somewhere, they fail! |
Baa
October 06, 2002
06:08 AM Post #378251
| Now we know what to send WZ and Lophophora for Christmas ...
I wonder what international postage would be on 50 bramble roots? |
philomel
Termes d'Armagnac
France
(Zone 8a)
October 06, 2002
06:43 AM Post #378261
| Certainly have no trouble supplying them (apart from backache LOL) |
Weezingreens
Seward, AK
(Zone 3b)
October 06, 2002
01:12 PM Post #378476
| Perhaps you could just direct some of the runners in this direction and they'll find there own way, Baa! I'm sure that all our local Devil's Club originate from a root up in Canada somewhere. I fanticize that I could grap up one end and drive across the border to return the whole lot to them!
Actually, one of our local gardeners has been trying to get blackberries to grow up here, but with limited success. |
