Blackberries

So, say I was given some blackberries that someone (my dad) got me from a big box store. How do I know how old the canes are? I guess my primary question is, do I not plan on a harvest this year? I don't want to tell my three year old and then get THAT LOOK when there are no berries

Last year canes produce fruit this year, the wood will be brown ish close to the crown, if the canes are tall you may get berries this year provided they are blooming now. otherwise this years new growth will give you berries next year

I purchased 3 blackberries from Home Depot that are 2 years old. Two are blooming and putting on a few berries (a dozen or so each), the other is not. So it is possible you might get a few this year if you can beat the birds to them. Some say to pull off any blooms the first year, but I'm not going to do it. Even a dozen will be a treat.

new gardener here...EXTREMELY limited knowledge.

Are blackberries something that could be planted along a fence line to keep neighbors dogs out? Are they prickly? Are they fast growing?

middlemamma wrote:new gardener here...EXTREMELY limited knowledge.

Are blackberries something that could be planted along a fence line to keep neighbors dogs out? Are they prickly? Are they fast growing?

yes, no, yes yes

Most dogs don't seem to be bothered by them. If your fence is not stopping them then I'm not sure BB's will either. However, when we grazed our geese in the berry garden we stopped both dogs and their berry loving owners.

Deborah ....who had so many berries she would have been glad to share with anyone who ASKED but got a little worried for the old fence when the old people started climbing over it

Deborah! LOL too funny. Well thankfully I am too much of a HEATHEN for these neighbors. They probably would think if they ate the fruits of anything I planted they would go straight to hell. LOL So I am not too worried about the neighbors! The fence is barbed wire and the dogs just jump right through it. If there was just something in the WAY they would stop....cause they are not going over it. And I thought if I planted something it would be more productive than just a board propped up against it like I have now. And I wistfully thought..ahhhhhh, berries would be nice.

I am not an evil person or mean to animals..but these dogs like to defecate in my yard and not theirs...not sure why as they have 3 X more acreage than we do! LOL I have thought of investing in a sack o' marbles and a slingshot and seeing if I could persuade them to stay OUT! I would get the bb gun...but dang that is just too harsh for me.

This garden area I am working on was a beautiful flower garden 6-8 years ago with the last owners. We rent from the owner and nothing has been done with this area for years. The soil was well ammended and EVERYTHING has grown in this 20 X 60 area unattended for at LEAST 6 years. Its like a jungle. We have been cleaning it up for a few weeks trying to get ready to put our boxes down. I am worried these dogs are going to like the new clean spot I made just for them. The first time I find dog poo in my garden I am going to have a canary. (see post on birds and gardens! LOL j/k)

I have a dog too, she is sweet as heck and smarter than all get out. She is a border collie mix so not aggressive enough to keep the neighbor dogs out, cause she wants to play. I have already walked her the border of the garden and said NO! and all the borders. She gets it. Couple more days and she wont enter again. She puts a paw up as if to step in and then cocks her head and looks at me like ok...I'm testing the new rule here. I say NO! and she is paw down just looking at me like, "OK....but what the heck lady?" I love her.

Anyway..I'm thinking the blackberries are worth a try. Geese would be too except the yard is NOT totally fenced in so they probably would wander away. And I am not investing in a fence for my landlord. I'm already in deep for my garden that I wont be able to take with me when I go. Good thing we don't plan on going anywhere anyday soon.

Jennie-Loving this place!

You have me beat hands down Jennie ....I am rather evil to the OWNERS of dogs who poop in my lawn.

Can't wait to hear how living barbed wire works out for you.

Rose of Sharon bushes are so beautiful and they are pretty thick and have prickly branches. I remember when we lived in Oregon, I was complimenting our neighbor on how beautiful her bush was. She said it was the only thing their pet rabbit wouldn't eat. So maybe it might be your answer.

I received a "Four Seasons Nursery" catalog, 1708 Morrissey Dr., Bloomington, IL 61704 and ordered 6 Rose of Sharon bushes for only $3.99! They call it the Rose of Sharon Hedge #6877. So, it might be worth a look they have a website: www.DirectGardening.com They will probably be pretty little when you get them, but they grow fast! Might want to put a little metal fencing around them to protect them at first from the dogs, etc. jumping on them while they are so new!

Deborah, ok I will be painfully honest...I REALLY am that mean...but (insert ashamed look here) but I wouldnt want them to get my doggie in retaliation. So I figured marbles would be easier NOT to get caught.

Linda, Thank you...I will look into that!

Jennie

IF you were shooting my dog I would rather it was with a modern BB gun. They do not pierce skin. (I know, someone will have a story about how one hurt them or someone they know) I like the rose of sharon idea.

We used to live on the same lane as a Vietnam Vet who would walk down the street and shoot marbles from a wrist rocket (fancy slingshot) at the dogs (and cats, chickens, ducks, milk cows or whatever). The marbles DID break skin, break hip and rib bones, and kill smaller animals. He did not have the ability to reason that you have, the war stole his soul. We all wanted to be compassionate but it was hard over the tears of our children and the big vet bills. I'm just saying....be careful where you aim your ire.

Deborah ....who always rather enjoyed bagging it up and dumping it on the owners driveway (have pictures ready, somehow a pet owner will never believe that their little darling, their nearly human companion would ever do such a thing.....in fact you might want to tell your neighbor that if they don't take care of the problem your frustration level will drive you to do something to bring the point home.

.....and who HATES dog poop and is frustrated by the people who don't care where their dog goes so long as they don't have to shovel or bag. (if it is so “natural” than let it be “natural” in their front yard, not mine) …rant over

YIKES! good to know...I did not know that about marbles. Ugh. Hmmm....well in the name of getting along....right now neighbors ignore me I ignore them, no quarelling or confrontation....I think I will try the bushes and leave it at that for a bit. I DO NOT want somone to hurt Chevy over some poo. It isn't woth it. I am already in love with this garden and wanting to protect it and I dont even have a sprout yet...but we need to keep things in perspective.

Im a mamma bear by nature and protective...I cannot even imagine what that vet did...how sad. I think I would have become adept at a wrist rocket myself and gave him a taste. However, the conflicting bleeding heart in me probably would have been right where you ended up realizing he had been irrepairably hurt from such horrors of war. How totally sad.

Thanks for sharing...I will save my money, no marbles...I really thought though that they would be less damaging. Thak you for telling me of your experience.

This has no relation to the dog conversation, but...

My next-door neighbor's cat is a terrible teenager! He is beligerant and obnoxious and desperately teases my tabby, who is about 13 years old and does NOT like his company. The other day he came walking right into my house, as he likes to do. After yelling at him a few times to go home, I ended up throwing a cup of water at him. And I nailed him! I am a huge cat lover, so I didn't want to hurt him. I just want him to leave my poor girls alone. Fortunately is began raining rather hard at the same time, so if he went home really wet, his mom hopefully just thought it was rain. I haven't seen him since so maybe it worked!

nancy wrote:snip .... I haven't seen him since so maybe it worked!

Haha Nancy! You are a cat lover so I am sure you know that puddie is just out of sight plotting his revenge.

Deborah ....so glad to know I am not the only animal lover who occasionally looses my mind.

While we were on vacation across the country, our cat got terribly bitten, scratched, mauled you name it by one of our neighbor's cats. My son called me on my cell phone and asked if Kitty had all of his shots? I told him, "Yes". "Why"?
He wouldn't tell me but just said he was checking. He and his sister had ended up taking poor Kitty to the vet to be tended to and they were going to put him to sleep! They thought for sure a rabid animal had probably attacked him. My son told him our neighbor's cat was quite large and thought it owned the place and thought it was probably in heat or something. Our Kitty has been fixed, so he couldn't help the neighbor cat if he wanted to. Anyway, our children told them to absolutely under no circumstances put our cat to sleep. His Mom would want to sue them when she got back from vacation if they did. With that, they stitched him, gave him a shot of something, gave them ointment to put on the wounds and they brought him back home. Can you imagine what a shock that would have been for us to come home to hear about him being put to sleep by a veterinarian because of the neighbors invading cat? Oh, man!

Everytime I see their cat outside I make sure our cat isn't. If it looks like it is going to come near the house I go out and yell at it. We live in an old farm house and the neighbors live in cottages up on the hill behind us. The old barn which is now falling down is closer to our house because our house used to be the main farm house. So, you can get the picture of their cat just wandering down the hill to our yard and headed toward the old barn. As long as he just keeps moving it along!

I ordered them from another company whose catalog we also got in the mail, Honeycreek Nursuries, Division of Burgess Seed, 905 Four Seasons Road, Bloomington, IL 61701, USA They also have a website: www.HoneycreekNurseries.com

Anyway, I was craving the flavor of blackerries from my youth. My Mom had several bushes on the far end of their yard along side their fence where they wouldn't bother anybody. I ended up ordering 2 Back Satin Thornless Blackerry plants #6157 for $7.89 for the two of them. I got carried away and ordered some Dewberry plants #6244, 5 for $8.99 for all of them. They give you special deals if you buy more than one plant or in their suggested grouping. Now, Dewberries are more like a vine and do have thorns on them. You want to tie their canes or vines rather up on a fence or trellis and cut any extra suckers away as they will root and form too many bushes if you leave them laying on the ground. I personally had never heard of a Dewberry until I saw them in this catalog. They seem to grow more berries that are larger and milder and earlier than Blackberries. They are two year old plants, but will probably not fruit this first year. We'll see. I think they say they don't fruit for several years. I was a little bummed about that. The catalog didn't say that, but the internet when I looked Dewberry up did.

I ordered dwarf fruit trees from this catolog, too. One with about five different apples on it and one with about four or five other fruits such as peaches, apricots, plums, etc. on one tree.

I had ordered combinations of strawberries from them, the planting tier and net, but forgot to order the plastic to go over the whole thing. Well, the other nursery catalog had come the, Four Seasons Nursery, and if you ordered from them they would give you some Huckleberry seeds free with your order. Being from Oregon originally, I had great memories of picking wild huckleberries across the Columbia River on Mount Adams and remembering the flavor of huckleberry pies! So, I looked in their catalog, they had the same strawberry tier and accessories, so I ordered the plastic for it from them along with a few other items, (It's easy to get carried away.) and now am looking forward to the Huckleberry seeds. I can't imagine growing a shrub from a seed! Hmmm

So, thought I would share these two catalog companies with you. Their plants are really reasonable. I hope they turn out okay. I'll let you know. The strawberry tier has already arrived so that we can put it together.

I fear we are going to be a magnet for the bear that used to come by when we were still feeding the birds. We have since learned, when they say the season to feed them has come to an end, they really do mean it. Hee hee! We hadn't stopped and the bear ripped the hanging feeder beside our livingroom window off it's hook, pushed my Moses hook hanging rod that had the other feeder on it outside on the front yard. Then it came over by our large rubber container that holds our two garbage cans and ripped the lid off of its hinges and got into the garbage. Luckily, it was nighttime and while I heard something going on, I didn't see it! The next day when I realized what had happened, I was so scared I wanted to barocade the doors. Literally! Husband wouldn't let me. Told me to relax, calm down, it would be alright. It really freaked me out! He was saying we should probably put the fruit bushes across the drive that goes up the hill and on the other side of it in another large section of ground. I'm afraid everyone will beat me to the fruit. I don't know. What to do, what to do?

A squirt bottle of water works awesome on most cats -- absolutely doesn't harm them, but they absolutely hate getting squirted.

Can't help on dogs, I'm afraid, but I think if you've already tried asking nicely, then a photo of the dog, in flagrante delicto, and a shovel of poo on the front door step sum it all up rather nicely.

Still nobody hurt...but boy, the point is clear!

you guys are killing me!!!

I have put poop under car tires so when they back up they roll into it. Also called animal control, etc. Use the bbgun at the old house too. Now only was the dog pooping in our yard, but we have a toddler and I dont trust that thing and both the dog, and the baby, ran faster than I could at that time. I dont want to fear for my child, or my feet, when walking in MY yard...