Rubus fruticosus | bramble
Rubus fruticosus | bramble
Hedgerow wonder providing food for us, birds, other mammals and insects
Is there anything more appealing at this time of year than a bunch of shiny blackberries warmed in the early Autumn sunlight? The perfect snack for walker and gardener alike. Sweet when fully ripe, slightly tart if not. Needs absolutely no help growing, which we’ll see is also bittersweet unless you grow it as I do, discussed below.
Need to know information about blackberry
Blackberries, Rubus fruticosa, sit within the rose family. If you compare the small white flowers to those of wild roses, you notice the similarity.
It is perennial, coming back every year. New blackberry stems grow from the main growing point at the central base of the plant with a long arching shape.
They originate from all over Europe, including the UK, down to Italy but not Spain or Portugal. Of course, these days it is grown all over the world for its fruit.
A scrambling shrub that is verging on a climber, its thorns are used for protection and to help scramble. Hooking onto branches and shoots of other plants. It can also form a dense shrubby thicket in its own right.
Tolerating shade, blackberry does best in full sunshine. This combination makes it useful for growing through other plants as it doesn’t mind their shade and will power upward to reach the light itself.
They grow all over the place in any soil. I’ve noticed on wetter years, the fruits are particularly plump.
How to propagate and grow blackberries
You can grow blackberries from seed of course, like a strawberry, mushing up the fruit, collecting and drying the seeds inside. Sow just under the soil, or compost if in a pot. Plant or sow in the final position as they don’t really like being moved. They’ll grow easily, as evidenced by birds spreading the plants around.
You can also buy young plants online, either the wild form, which we have, or one of many cultivated types that are said to fruit more heavily or produce larger fruit. I’m very happy with the wild form which almost always produce a mix of large and small fruit. Though one benefit to cultivated types is that some are thornless.
Stems will also root where they touch the ground, so cutting off and taking one of these growing points is probably the easiest method of propagation. You can make this happen yourself by pinning a stem to the ground of compost in a pot.
Are blackberries edible?
You of course know blackberries are edible, though I’ve noticed many people are reluctant to pick them in the wild nowadays. They are perfectly safe to pick and eat straight from the plant, I promise. Perhaps avoid anything below knee height where a dog or wild animal might have pee’d on them. Anything higher up will be fine as it is.
As you’ll know doubt already know, blackberries have lots of uses and are rich in Vitamin C, fibre and other nutrients, while being low in sugar. Making them a healthy snack to eat. Unless of course you serve them with honey or syrup and pancakes, as we like to do. Though the yoghurt is low fat which cancels out any badness I swear* (* dubious fact).
Freeze blackberries for use over winter.
Are blackberries good for wildlife?
Blackberry plants are incredibly useful for wildlife in so many ways.
First the obvious, those berries are an important food source for many hedgerow birds, smaller mammals such as voles and mice, as well as various insects. Those insects in turn become more food for birds and mammals.
The leaves are eaten by larger mammals such as deer, as well as the caterpillars of a huge number of macro and micro moth species, sawflies and some butterfly species. Including holly blue, green hair streak and grizzled skipper butterflies, buff arches, scarlet tiger and grass emerald moths.
The spiky thickets they create are protective cover for mammals and snakes. In particular, they are homes for hedgehogs.
These thorny bramble thickets also act as a natural protective nursery for other shrubs and trees to grow through without being eaten by deer. Which I discussed in this post about establishing new woodland naturally without need for fencing or tree guards.
Finally, the flowers are a late season food source for pollinators. All in all, a much more important wildlife plant than the gardening world would have you believe.
Using brambles in design
“What?!” you exclaim, brambles in design? But yes, it is possible and it is worth it for the visual impact of those dark glossy berries in late-summer and autumn, as well as to eat them. And of course all of the wildlife benefits. Wildlife makes a garden design come alive, without nature, to me a design is a wasted opportunity and hollow. Void of the best of us, which is life all around.
One of the easiest ways to manage bramble is not with wires against a wall, though that does work and looks great if you have the time and space. I grow brambles within our mixed wild hedge. We didn’t need to plant it, bramble was there and has spread around a bit.
Growing bramble in hedges gives them a natural support, increases the biodiversity of the hedge and makes the blackberry plant very easy to manage. You simply cut the bramble at the same time as cutting back the hedge. Using thick gloves to remove the clippings and of course, we should always wear eye protection when cutting hedges anyway.
While this method may not seem perfect because we can’t get to the base of the plant to remove old stems completely, and it’s true some stems shoot out in summer getting in the way. I nip these off, taking no time, and the plants grow regardless, producing ample fruit for us and wildlife.
Are there any downsides to bramble?
Brambles love to spread and that is a challenge, you need to contain them. Long ranging shoots will fire out and root where they touch the ground. Their roots also send out suckers underground. This means they can grow into new areas and shade out smaller plants quickly, such as in grassland.
You can keep cutting them back, which will kill them off over a number of years. Though the only true way of removing them quickly is by digging out their roots. A challenge but not hard. Personally, I would go with cutting back and keep on top of it.
Concentrate on growing bramble in one spot, I like them in our hedges the most where they are contained, supported and annually managed as part of the hedge cut.
We do have them around the farm growing in patches and to manage those, I will simply cut around them and reduce the patch every year or two. There is one patch of grassland where I’ll probably cut the brambles back completely to eventually remove in that spot to protect the grassland species.
Another downside are bramble thorns, which can cut and scratch. Not so bad but like anything in nature, can be dirty and cause an infection if unlucky, so be careful. And always be wary of your eyes around spiky things, I know it might sound over-the-top but having come close many a time, I promise it’s better to be safer with eye protection than sorry.
I’ve become increasingly interested in blackberry as a food source, it’s so easy. And easy free food has got to be a good thing for the future.
p.s. it’s the time of year to start collecting seeds from lots of plants! I’ve been out this week collecting seeds, and I sell my sustainable seed packets in my online shop in big and small sizes. Paid subscribers to the Wild Way receive a 20% discount off everything in my shop as a thank you.
Maybe we're thinking of the wild ones. Perhaps cultivated varieties are more reliable?
Blackberries are indeed wonderful and delicious. But we find here in the Pennines that they don't reliably ripen in many years, depending on the particular annual weather, needing just the right amount of rain and a long period of sun. But a much more reliable member of the bramble family, with even more delicious fruits, is the Japanese Wineberry, Rubus phoenicolasius. Similar growth and habit, but more ornamental, with bright red spiny stems (but not as thorny as blackberries) and glowing orange-red berries, which are slightly sticky and so not damaged by rain. They are beautiful and supremely delicious! They fruit a bit earlier in the season than blackberries and, for some reason, the birds seem to leave them alone. There's nothing better than going out in the morning and grazing on these little jewels!