When to plant Blackberries
Calendar windows
Dates shift with your latitude — they are calculated from your local last-spring-frost date, not from a fixed calendar.
At a glance
Overwinters outdoors in a temperate garden.
Practical notes
It fruits on last year’s canes, so tie the new growth to one side of the wires and the fruiting canes to the other — that way you can cut the spent ones out without untangling anything. Thornless varieties are worth the small loss of flavour.
Knowing when to pick
Wait until the berry is dull black rather than shiny, and comes away with the plug inside. Shiny black is sour.
Storing the crop
Three days in the fridge. Freezes and cooks better than it keeps — most of a crop should go into the freezer.
Crop rotation
Permanent planting: never replant a rose-family plant straight into its own old site.
Grows well with
Keep apart from
Watch for
Full guide: blackberries diseases and pests (4) → with spread routes, compost verdicts and the prevention this list justifies.