Topic: Blackberries for children

[shaolin101]

Whenever i have eaten a blackberry it has come from a bush i have found somewhere - and i tended to get scratched to bits trying to get the big one at the back before teh bee got there!

I would like to plant some and as I have always seen them in overgrown places on no mans land they obviously need no (or not much) looking after.

Wondering if thornless varieties would need such litle care as my kids are only young they could tend for them every now and then and take the fruit themselves.

Any ideas?

[Svea]

i dont know about thornless blackberries, but there are hybrid varieties that are thornless. check out www.kenmuir.co.uk (or .com)  and check his blackberries and hybrids. also gives a good explanation of what the hybrids taste like.

i fancied some for myself (a tayberry or loganberry) but i dont have enough space for them - they get quite big

svea

[beejay]

We grow a thornless blackberry called Helen, bought from Marshalls. I highly recommend it. It is quite small with lots of delicious big & early fruit. They are already forming on the bush now.

[Mrs Ava]

I have a tayberry on our fence in the garden behind the flowers and shrubs, and I have to say, other than cutting down the old fruiting stems and attaching the new ones to the trellis, they are effortless and produce masses and masses of great big fat, slightly tart, but heavenly berries!  No idea on type as it was one my dad brought when we very first got our family allotment some 12 years ago and when I gave up that plot, I dug it up and brought it with me!  No thorns, no scratches, easy peasy!

[moonbells]

I've got an inherited loganberry and phew it's sour!

Probably only good for preserves, but is indeed mostly thornless.  I did have a few stems which were incredibly prickly - like an elongated cactus - and so there was a conscious decision to dig that cane out.

My bramble is Himalayan Giant, which Bob Flowerdew describes in his organic bible as
"Few compare with 'Himalayan Giant', the biggest and toughest - it could stop a runaway tank! It is ideal for keeping out unwanted visitors when planted along boundaries or trained over a fence and is highly productive."

ie watch out it has thorns EVERYWHERE as I know to my cost...

moonbells

[Multiveg]

Apart from the thorns & scratches, I used to get a real sense of achievement when I was able to reach a juicy blackberry that was nearly out of reach!
My raspberries are a bit thorny! Somewhere, we have a thornless blackberry but haven't seen it for a while.