Page 16 - Simply Veg 4 2022

Blackberries
Allotment Blackberry
Hybrid Blackberry
Loganberry
propagate new plants by layering, growth will be most success from roots developed at the tip of the mother plant if they are buried in the soil. October/November – dig a large hole 2 feet square and 1 foot deep with the bottom well forked over incorporating garden compost, FYM and bone meal. Plant in a permanent position 6 feet apart and ready for careful training along a wire or fence.
RON NUTTALL
Autumn was that time of the year when I remember a weekend highlight going down the lane with my grandparents collecting “blaggies” to make our favourite blackberry jelly, being careful not to pick any fruit after bonfire night as they were reserved for the devil. If it was a year of fruit scarcity we made the shortage up with apples, preparing blackberry and apple jam. I remember a piece of blackberry and apple pie with a generous helping of custard was consider the seasonal delicacy.
I am sure that I do not have to jog your memory about the difficulties we have had cultivating our fruit and vegetables during this hot summer of 2022.
Mindful of those problems let me tell you again of the success of the berries grown on fruit trees with strongly established root systems that have sought the necessary moisture to grow and ripen an abundance of accepted fruit as approved by the ‘Taste Testing’ team.
Adaptations continue, the decline of the
traditional hedgerow blackberry, which has served us so well, is being superseded by a resurgence in popularity of my favourite, the Loganberry, a cross between an North American blackberry and the European raspberry and another favourite variety of mine ‘Black Beauté. These are recommended by our suppliers in their catalogues of nursery grown stock with details of varieties producing, large berries ready in July, breeding-out those thorns and pips which compromised our original favourite.
Now we have the ability of spreading the fruiting season with varieties suitable for harvest, eating and preserving.
Bearing in mind that this is a long-lasting undertaking, prepare to plant new varieties which will thrive on a moist, well drained, deep rich heavy soil.
During the first year of growth they will be juvneile, ready to bloom and fruit the following year after which they will die and be removed.
Acton plan: August – prepare to
16 Simply Vegetables