10 Easy Tips for Growing Blackberries

Blackberries are a delicious addition to your organic garden! Not only is this fruit easy to grow, but it also actually comes with plenty of health benefits. Blackberries contain high amounts of ellagic acid—an antioxidant that helps lower cholesterol levels, prevent cardiovascular disease, as well as turn possible cancer-causing chemicals inactive.

As you can see, having this wonderful fruit in your own garden is very beneficial… so go ahead and start planting it today! Just follow these simple growing tips below and you’ll be harvesting your first batch of amazing blackberries in no time.

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10 Tips for Growing Blackberries

1. Plant where they will get at least 10 hours of direct sunlight.

2. Construct trellises for trailing varieties before planting.

3. Space upright varieties at 3-foot intervals in rows 8 feet apart. Set trailing varieties 5-8 feet apart in rows 6-10 feet apart. Set plants 1 inch deeper than they were grown in the nursery.

4. Cut the plants back to about 6 inches after you plant them.

5. Fertilize the ground as early in the spring as you possibly can.

6. Make sure the growing blackberry plants receive about 1 inch of water a week.

7. You need to make sure you do not plant the bushes where peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes or strawberries are growing, or have grown in the past 3 years or so.

8. Your soil should have a pH between 5.6 to 6.2.

9. After you see ripened blackberries, you want to pick them every 3-6 days.

10. To prevent chilling injury in the winter, lay the canes of trailing types on the ground in winter and cover with a thick layer of mulch.

Article Source: A Healthy Life for Me, Almanac.com