Taming the Berries

Last year, I moved a series of rapidly spreading black raspberries to a better location.  Better, in that it was away from the side of the house, out of my sad herb garden, and would prevent them from growing into the wall and windows.  They are still on the south side of the house, which they love, and they get some nice bits of shade during the day from the large box elder trees.  They do love to droop though, which lets them root all over.  This is nice, if you don't mind a big messy bramble patch, but I prefer to pick my berries with slightly fewer lacerations.

By pounding in steel t-post poles and attaching three levels of support wires, I was able to fashion a really simple trellis.  It won't win any awards from the garden architecture folks, but it works to weave the trailing branches through and tame them into rough parallel rows.  The raspberries seem to like it rather well--they don't fall over in a stiff wind, and they get some nice air flow to prevent mold and mildew when it persistently rains.  They are still very, very spiky, though, so it definitely requires armor (in the form of jeans and long sleeved shirt) before going after the bounty.

They are so worth a few puncture wounds, oh yes.  So very worth it!