We have two stakes about 10 feet apart with three rows of wire stretched between them. The plants are placed about 3-4 feet apart. The plants grow long, thin branches which we anchor onto the wires with twist ties. When they get long enough to touch the ground from any height, you can bury the tip of the branch about 4-6 inches in the dirt and it will root and become a new plant after a minimum of six weeks. Then you can cut it from the mother branch. It can be dug up and planted in another area if needed. You can also cut the long branches and it will form side-branches and fill in the bush.
The flowers are in a clump and are a light pink. Once fruit appears, place a net over the bush so the birds don't eat the fruit. It first is red, then turns dark and is easily pulled off when ripe. Lots of seeds in the berries. We use a standard fruit plant fertilizer. Water well in dry weather. It flowers in May/June and fruit is ripe in July/August.
Fruit grown on branches this year will not produce again and need to be cut down to the ground after harvesting is over. That gets a little tricky when tracing the branch entangled with others. New growth this year will produce fruit next year.
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| The bush from one end. It does not need a wide space, but enough to get around the entire bush. The deck makes it a bit tight, but do-able. Lots of new growth extending beyond the stake. |
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| The flowers will be blackberries in July. Last year there was a multitude of growth as you can see it's bushy on the left and right, while the mid-section is a bit sparse. This is normal growth. Many new plants/canes were started last year. |
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| This particular plant is at least 8-9 years old. Old canes are cut to the ground after harvesting, so the base gets thick. |
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| The thick canes are new growth for next year's fruit. |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackberries
http://www.bhg.com/gardening/plant-dictionary/fruit/blackberry/
