Trellising Blackberries

Trellising Blackberries is a great idea especially if you have trailing blackberry bushes. Blackberries can grow without trellises but a trellis can help in many different ways.

Total Loss in our Garden

Our garden was a total loss last year. We think we may have gotten sprayed by a farmer near our land. I had chalked it up to a learning experience. We took this past year off because life was busy, and we weren’t prepared to risk another year of loss.

I had assumed we had no sign of life in our garden, but I was taking a walk this past week, and found some berries we had forgotten about.

There is no better surprise then berries. I was so excited, so I immediately started cleaning out the spot where the berries were, and looking for any small plants that may have gotten lost in the weeds.

Raspberries, Blackberries, and Blueberries…Oh My!

Hidden in the weeds were several raspberry plants, a large blackberry plant, and even a tiny little blueberry guy. I have not yet gotten through all the weeds, but I am trying to go slow to make sure I don’t pull up any tiny berry plants along the way.

But let me tell you, that blackberry bush seemed to be thriving. It had really spread out, and started taking over and getting tangled in the over-grown brush. I was so sad when I realized there were tons of little berries that were died up all over the bush.

I hate that I missed out on all the things I could have cooked with those berries. But don’t worry, I will not miss out on them this year.

I started pulling all the weeds around the bush, and untangling all of the stems from the brush. I remembered I had purchased some trellises on sale, and though they would be a perfect start to help train the blackberries to be more upright.

Most Important Benefit of Trellising Blackberries

There are so many benefits to trellising blackberries. On of the most important benefits being it makes them easier to harvest. When your blackberries are low to the ground this makes harvesting more difficult as you are stooping over searching for them.

When the berries are upright this makes harvesting so much easier. Keeping the blackberries up of the ground also makes it harder for small animals to get their paws on your precious berries.

We have quite an abundance of rabbits, and they seem to like to get into my berries. I have a feeling the trellis will help.

Keeping your Blackberries out of the Weeds

Another major benefit to trellising blackberries is it help keeps the plant contained, and keeps it from getting out of control. Like I mentioned earlier our blackberry bush had really tangled itself in the weeds.

Keeping your bushes trellised will keep it out of the weeds. Literally. By growing your blackberries upright your plant will be so much easier to maintain and prune.

There are so many reasons to trellis your blackberries. If you have any good blackberry suggestions, send me a message on Instagram. I love to hear your feedback. As always, keep following along with The Four Acre Farm blog for more Easy Recipes, Gardening Tips, & Budget Friendly DIY.