Hi,

We seem to have loads of very nastily thorned blackberries in our back
garden. One is even impossible to tend with gloves on the thorns are
that sharp / many.

Is it possible to tidy them up in any way?
We have one thorn less bush in to far left of the garden but it keeps
getting swamped with the thornier ones.

I love the berries but would like to contain them in some way... Is it
possible?

The only way I found was to dig them out - but it isn't easy (cut all the
branches back to ground level first and then dig down) - you will probably
find runners so follow them along and pull them out. Run the secateurs down
along the thorns and remove some of them before getting to grips with the
gloves.
wrote in message
news
Hi,

We seem to have loads of very nastily thorned blackberries in our back
garden. One is even impossible to tend with gloves on the thorns are
that sharp / many.

Is it possible to tidy them up in any way?
We have one thorn less bush in to far left of the garden but it keeps
getting swamped with the thornier ones.

I love the berries but would like to contain them in some way... Is it
possible?


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"biscuit" wrote in message
...
The only way I found was to dig them out - but it isn't easy (cut all the
branches back to ground level first and then dig down) - you will probably
find runners so follow them along and pull them out. Run the secateurs
down
along the thorns and remove some of them before getting to grips with the
gloves.

I don't think he actually wants them out, he wants to 'control' them. The
best I can recommend is to drive some stakes or angle irons in where you
would 'like' them to grow and train them along wires stretched between the
stakes or angle irons.

Once you let them do their own thing, you end up with a 'heap' of spindly
things arching over and covering an area of at least 10 feet either way
:-(( Try reaching into the middle of that to pick the fruit :-((

Mike

wrote in message
news
Hi,

We seem to have loads of very nastily thorned blackberries in our back
garden. One is even impossible to tend with gloves on the thorns are
that sharp / many.

Is it possible to tidy them up in any way?
We have one thorn less bush in to far left of the garden but it keeps
getting swamped with the thornier ones.

I love the berries but would like to contain them in some way... Is it
possible?

Just prune them heavily each year after fruiting with a long handled
scythe or slash hook.


--

Chris Thomas
West Cork
Ireland

If you have the room to train them on wires then if you can have wires
running either side of the plants you train the growth one way this year,
then next year the new growth goes the other way, this makes it easy to cut
out the old wood after fruiting.

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

If you have the room to train them on wires then if you can have wires
running either side of the plants you train the growth one way this year,
then next year the new growth goes the other way, this makes it easy to cut
out the old wood after fruiting.

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk