Blackberries

Back in winter I put in five new thornless blackberry plants. They were planted on a hugelkultur mound, on contour, and eventually I will dig a swale to hold water on the upslope side of the mound.

They were just bare sticks with labels on and I didn’t expect anything to happen this year:

But to my surprise they flowered:

And are now setting fruit:

I’ve staked either end of the row, but I still need to put up wires to contain the growth and something over the top to support a net. Meanwhile, I’m not going to risk losing these to the birds, so I’m using the little apple pouches I bought from Green Harvest. These are little nylon sockettes that just slip over individual fruits or small bunches of fruit and stretch and expand as the fruit grows:

Here’s hoping it works. Can’t wait to taste these!