Battling the Blackberries

Pretty little white flowers mean blackberries will be growing soon. I hate them.
Blackberry bushes, or blackberry brambles, cover the sloping area of my backyard and I spent most of last Fall pruning and pulling them up to make room for my garden.  My backyard is tiny and they are the last think I need causing me trouble, but they aren’t easy to get rid of with their very thorny stems.  They can easily take over with runners underground and as they grow throughout the summer their tall, spiky branches hang over my tomatoes and other crops.

I don’t like the plants and I don’t like the berries. The only seed-filled berries I like are raspberries and I can stomach the black raspberries, but not these (yes, they are different). I have bunches of raspberry plants too, and I wish they produced more berries, but I don’t think they get enough sun. Someone must have planted them years ago and now they are stuck back in the shade.

I don’t like the taste or the looks of the blackberry plant.  I guess I should pick whatever the chipmunks don’t eat and give them away -once they have fruit.  Then I’ll get out my clippers and chop them down as they stick me with their thorns…ugh.

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• A Guide to Growing Your Own Berries! (berries.com)