All the secrets of the mysterious blackberry

Today, among gardeners, there is a widespread fashion for growing vegetables and berries that are unusual in taste, shape and type. One of these rare berries is the blackberry in the garden. And indeed. Despite the fact that in gardening stores you can find various varieties of blackberry seeds, you can rarely find it in summer cottages. From this, it can be assumed that gardeners are either afraid that growing blackberries is a very laborious process, or they do not want to deviate from the standard set of vegetables and berries in their summer cottage.

Although growing blackberries is a very profitable and profitable business. Agricultural technology is not as complicated as it might seem at first glance, and a lot of berries can be harvested from one blackberry bush. Of course, with proper planting and caring for the growing bush.

Summer residents who have planned to grow a blackberry on their plot for the next summer season need to understand that this berry has a development cycle of two years, which means that after planting, the harvest can only be expected in the second year. In addition, you need to know that blackberries begin to bear fruit from self-pollination, respectively, if you plant several varieties of berries on the site at once, you can hardly count on the fact that blackberries can be grown while maintaining their characteristics of the variety.

Blackberries in the garden: varieties

There are two main forms of varieties. They differ in the type of shoots: creeping and erect. There is also an intermediate form of the variety, which combines the two main ones; it is called semi-creeping. The forms differ not only in name, but also in the characteristics of cultivation and care. So, for example, blackberries with erect shoots are more resistant to frost, and caring for them is much easier than for other varieties. However, you should not rush to choose just this kind. The fact is that such blackberries are very prickly, and this greatly complicates their collection.

Blackberries with creeping shoots are not so resistant to extreme cold. The shoots themselves can reach up to ten meters in length, while they are extremely flexible, so they are quite difficult to cut and need to be tied up periodically as the blackberry is rustic.

The semi-creeping intermediate form of the variety is primarily hybrids, with a characteristic high quality of berries. As a rule, the yield of these varieties is much richer than that of the rest. That is why this variety is most often used for industrial farming of berries.

Blackberries in the garden: growing conditions

Blackberries grown in the garden are sun-loving and do not tolerate strong winds. The berry can grow in the shade, but in this case, you cannot count on sweet and juicy fruits. The best time to start planting blackberries is April. By this time, the soil should already be warmed up. As before planting other crops, before planting, you need to clear the land of weeds and weeds, dig holes or even a trench if you plan to plant a belt type. The hole should be no more than half a meter deep. Fertilizers are poured into it, subsequently mixed with the soil. Only after carrying out the preparatory work can you start planting blackberries.

Since blackberries love moisture almost as much as the sun's rays, immediately after planting, they must be watered with plenty of water (in moderation, otherwise you can kill an unripe shrub).

Blackberry propagation

The berry reproduces in several ways, on which we will dwell in more detail:

- Reproduction by horizontal and apical layers. Of all the breeding methods, this method is the easiest. With it, it is enough just to lower one of the shoots growing on the bush to the garden bed and fix it, sprinkling it on top with a small layer of earth. After a while, the branch itself will take root, from which a new bush will appear in the future. It is better to dig it up and transplant it to a new place so that the "old" bushes are not cramped and there is room for their further growth.

-Production by offspring. First you need to stipulate that in this case, gardeners and summer residents call young shoots that sprouted from the root of the plant as offspring. These offspring can be easily detached and dropped off elsewhere. However, it should be borne in mind that only such an offspring is suitable for planting, which has managed to grow by more than 10 centimeters. Transplanting a small shoot will be problematic and ineffective.

-Seed propagation. This method takes place, and, as mentioned above, you can find different varieties of blackberry seeds in stores. However, the process of growing blackberries in this way is very troublesome and time-consuming. From seeds, blackberries can begin to bear fruit at least 4 years after planting. In private gardening, the seed propagation method is almost never used.

Blackberry care

It is worth saying that after planting, blackberries are less demanding to care for than even more common crops in summer cottages. The main thing in the first year of a seedling's life is to water it regularly, get rid of weeds and weeds, and often loosen the soil. When the bushes grow, you can water them only when necessary, for example, if the unbearable heat has been outside for two weeks. Why is that? The thing is that the roots of blackberries are so deep in the soil that they are not at all afraid of its dryness.

Adult bushes can also do without fertilizer (but only if the blackberry grows well and brings you the required amount of fruit). If there are problems with the growth and quantity of the blackberry bush, in the spring you can sprinkle the soil with humus, so it will become healthier and more fertile. Also, before the first berries appear on the bush, you can feed the bush with a small amount of potassium, which will give the blackberry berries a sweeter pleasant taste.

A big plus for growing blackberries is that they rarely get sick. But for prevention, you can spray the bushes with copper sulfate. He will saturate the bushes with the necessary amount of vitamins and strengthen her immunity.

At the same time, blackberries are hard to endure severe frosts, therefore, given our climate and harsh winters, it is imperative to cover it with humus or sawdust before closing the summer season. It is better to put needles as the top layer, it will give additional heat to the bushes.

If you live in places where the temperature in winter reaches below 25 degrees, in addition to organic shelter, you should use a special covering material.

Pruning blackberries is one of the most important plant care activities. Neglecting pruning shrubs, there is a high probability of getting a poor harvest of unsweetened berries. Of course, this is if you do not want to plant blackberry bushes only for the purpose of a hedge in your summer cottage. However, such cases are extremely rare, so they are not considered in this article.

As mentioned above, blackberries in the garden have a two-year cycle. In the second year, the bush bears fruit and begins to bloom. In the third year, the bush ceases to bear fruit, so the shoots can be safely removed. Do not hope that your bush, in which you have invested so much effort and care, will suddenly come to life. Cleansing the summer cottage from outdated shoots occurs most often in the middle of autumn, all the branches that gave berries this summer are completely removed.

In order to get a good rich harvest next year, you need to leave several of the most powerful and young shoots.The rest of the shoots should be cut out at the root (it is by no means possible to leave "stumps", since harmful rot will form on them over time, and there is a high probability of getting it on healthy bushes).

Thus, even not the most inveterate experienced summer resident can grow a blackberry in his garden. All you need is attentiveness, lack of laziness and, of course, a great desire to collect a huge harvest of delicious berries.