One of my favorite treats of the summer are the wild blackberries. Those fruits are some of the very best taste treats you can sample, and they make the best pie, cobblers, and jams imaginable. These wild berries are so much better tasting than their cultivated cousins and just one bite will distinguish the taste difference! That sprightly flavor is a surprise to those that have never had anything but the store bought blackberry, but well known to those that have probably sampled them as children, munching them from wild patches as kids, fingers and tongue stained purple!
These hold a love hate relationship with most gardeners. They hate them because they sprout up almost anywhere, the birds dropping their seeds in the most inappropriate places, often difficult to eradicate, and the canes are very fast and long growing and full of prickles, snagging everything they touch. But the fruits are not to be surpassed by the cultivated varieties. They hold so much more flavor. True you do have to sweeten them up with considerable sugar, etc. but the taste is outstanding. They are easy care and easy to grow, often too easy. Simple trimming back of the long canes will hold them in place, but you would do better to tie them to wires for easier management. They are a high maintenance crop, so be absolutely sure you want them and will perform that maintenance or better to just find a berry patch and pick from there. The varieties which you will easily find are Boysen(one which is uncomparable for rich taste, and dull unshiny berries. The taste is different and very rich, wonderful in jams, syrup, pies, cobblers. Others like Olallie and Marion are larger berries, but not as sprightly in flavor. The huge berry varieties are Kiowa, Arapaho, Apache, Big Jim, etc. individual berries are over 1″ long, some getting almost 3″ long!
Summer is blackberry season, and it will continue into fall if plants are well watered/have a good stable water supply.
They make a good barrier as well. Cutting out old canes after 2 years is recommended and you shouyld allow room for new canes to grow during spring, summer fall, limiting the clump size to perhaps 12-16 canes each… remember, you will have to tie those canes to support for ease of harvest.
Any well drained resonably good soil will suit their culture. Full sun will sweeten the berries nicely, too much shade will make them not very flavorful.
Removal of pests, diseased wood is recommended, simply cut that infested growth off and dispose of it.