12:02 PM Mon, Jan 07, 2008 | Permalink
Cindy Brummer
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 Those sticks in the ground? Those are blackberries. |
I've been talking about planting blackberries for so long, I bet you wondered if I was ever going to follow through.
Well, I did this weekend. Yay!
I've been telling every gardener I know about it... I'm so excited -- like a kid at Christmas!
I drove down to one of my favorite local nurseries this weekend and bought three blackberry plants. Well, "plant" doesn't exactly described them.
They're more like thorny short sticks with roots. The nursery was selling them bareroot. I saw they had two varieties, but one -- "Brazos" was already sold out. We ended up with "Roseborough" which is a variety developed by Texas A&M and is supposedly drought and disease resistant.
I wasn't sure how to get it home. We were standing there in front of several large tubs of sand with thorny sticks poking up out of them. Finally, we pulled three canes out of the tub, wrapped them in newsprint, threw in a little sand, and put them in a plastic bag. The sign said to protect the roots from sun exposure.
When we got them home, we set to work. I decided the raised beds I had originally marked for the blackberries would not give them the full sun they need... so I started digging.
And digging...
And digging.
Can you say 'Ow?'
It took a lot of effort because I had to dismantle and move part of a mound of dirt that was in the way. Despite my new work gloves, my blistered and callused hands are still wincing from the work.
We assembled a 4x8' raised bed and mixed up the soil, just like the other garden beds: native soil -- right from our yard -- compost, decomposed granite, and a few handfuls of fertilizer, sulfur, phosphate, Texas greensand and dried molasses.
I put the plants in the ground and voila! Our own personal blackberry patch. It will probably take a couple of years to see the blackberry plants fruit. When they do, I have to put netting over them to guard them from the birds and two little dogs that have a sweet spot for fruit and nuts.
I have a feeling I'll also need to stock up on first aid materials for cuts and scrapes and stain remover... because I'll also probably have one little boy who just can't stay away from the berry patch.
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