I’m trying to reframe brambles in my head…it’s not easy! I’ve viewed them as a nuisance all my life with only one redeeming feature – blackberries. However tasty their fruit are, brambles are a pain in the garden and so I’ve dug them up, slashed them down and cursed and battled them for years but they always win, regroup and come back stronger. And when they come back, they don’t bring the fruit. Seems a little spiteful, but then blackberries only appear on second year growth I haven’t allowed them flower or, therefore, fruit so it serves me right.  

Blackberry flowers are great food sources for several species including bees and butterflies; their fruit are food for birds, mice and me. Young stems can be skinned, steamed and eaten or used to make baskets, beehives and rope. Their roots are used as dyes. The thickets provide safe shelter for hedgehogs, birds, mammals and insects, and are used to stock proof boundaries. 

So this year is the first year that I’ve pruned a bramble back to good strong growth rather than hacked it back to no growth. I don’t want brambles to take over completely, so I’m experimenting with incorporating controlled bramble cultivation and will manage them in a similar vein to loganberries and tie them in to reduce their spread. Hopefully we’ll be rewarded with more butterflies and fruit. I’ll keep you posted…if I’m not too busy making blackberry crumbles. 

📷 Carol via AdobeStock #303292576