Blackberry is one of the most delicious garden berries. Outwardly, it resembles a raspberry, only black. The plant belongs to the numerous genus rubus, which includes berries such as stone fruit, raspberries, princesses, cloudberries. Popular with gardeners are creeping and upright blackberries. In the people they are called, respectively, dewdrop and kumanika. The latter variety can reach more than three meters in height. Its stems are covered with thorns. There are remontant shrub forms.
If you are interested in blackberries, planting and caring for them are as follows. Upright varieties are more unpretentious. Blackberries love well-lit, wind-free places. It does not tolerate drought or waterlogging. The soil for the successful development of the plant must be drained, with a supply of moisture, nutritious and loose. The plant does not tolerate low temperatures well, so blackberries must be protected from the cold.
Blackberries are planted in the spring or autumn months. And in the spring, the shrub should be planted before the dissolution of the buds, and in the fall - before the first frost. In the latter case, the plant has time to take root by the next season, and in the spring begins growth. For planting shrubs, the soil must be prepared in advance, clear the area fromweeds. The holes for the plant should be 30 by 30 centimeters. Between the rows it is necessary to leave a passage of one meter. In order for blackberries to develop successfully, planting and caring for shrubs require making organic fertilizers in the pits for planting. It can be peat, manure, grass, leaves.
Excess offspring and weeds should be regularly removed between rows. In the autumn and summer season, loosening the soil around the bushes, mulching with straw, sawdust or dark film is necessary. Blackberry is a self-pollinating plant. The correct approach and care for it require tying the stems of the bush with a wire along the fence, using special props as a support.
In order for blackberries to bear fruit well, planting and caring for them involves regular pruning, which is recommended in spring and autumn. At this time, stems infected with diseases, broken or damaged by pests are to be pruned, and those that are left to bear fruit are also shortened. Young shoots that are superfluous are cut out in late spring - early summer. Already fruiting stems are removed after harvest.
Since blackberries cannot stand the cold, planting and caring for them requires preparing them for the onset of winter. To do this, in September-October, the stems of the shrub are carefully bent to the ground and fixed with hooks. Then the roots are mulched with peat, humus or sawdust, the plants are covered. With the onset of winter, it is necessary to ensure that the blackberries are well covered with snow. This isprotect it from freezing. Winter-hardy varieties have also been bred, which include Eldorado, Agavam, Darrow, Ufimskaya local.
Proper cultivation of blackberries requires feeding the plant, for which complex fertilizers are used. But it must be remembered that with an excess of nitrogen, the winter hardiness of the shrub decreases and there is a risk of gray rot. When cultivating blackberries, it is necessary to take into account the selected varieties and properly organize plant care.
