My berry patch

Others have posted photos of their blackberries, so I went out to my berry patch to snap a few and munch a few. The "patch" is this large field that adjoins my property on the rear. The berries are not readily visible as the vines run through the grass, and you have to be standing over them to see them. Looks are deceiving; there are millions of the things in this field. Picking them is a labor-intensive process (stoop labor), and often painful. It took me about an hour to pick a gallon yesterday.

Down here (northwest La.) we don't call these blackberries, we call them "dewberries". I have no idea why. They grow throughout the south; I have no idea how far north they go, but it would be interesting to know. There is another wild berry that we call blackberries (last photo); they are smaller and more tart, and they mature about three weeks after the dewberries.

Dewberries are my favorite berry, even over strawberries. They are sweet, juicy, just-right tart. The seeds are easy to chew, not like those birdshot seeds in the big berries. They are good with cereal, with milk and sugar, or a cobbler. My favorite thing is to stand in the middle of the patch and pick and eat.

That's what we call them in southeastern Ohio too. Black berries are on a higher growing bush with much larger canes. Berries are a little different looking too. Used to pick them when I was a kid when I went after the cows in the evening. Just my thoughts, Keith

JerryS,
They look great! We won't have berries up north for a good long while yet. I'm with you... favortie way to eat them is right off the plant.

Wonder if Dew berries can be purchased through a greenhouse and if they would grow here in MN.

I thought you were an AZ guy.

I've always heard them called dewberries and we're covered up in them.

One of our summer treats is a hand full of dew berries stirred into some ice cream.

berry nice!

There is a difference between dewberries and blackberries.

Dewberries ripen earlier in the year, are smaller and generally not as sweet as black berries.

Because of their tartness, they make good pies and jelly.

Your dewberries look like what we call "wild blackberries" out here- small, round vines with small spines, bluish-green color, grow like a vine along the ground. Berries are small, but very flavorful. They bring about 25 bucks a gallon around here, if you can find them. I've got a couple of shady areas where the berries get quite large, and I'm thinking of making some trellises so they can climb and be easier to pick.

The later, larger berries we call just "blackberries"- I think they are old domesticated ones, gone wild- two varieties, Himilayas and Evergreens, distinguishable by the leaf shape. Bigger berries, actually quite good, but seedy.

What I've known a dewberries are low-growing, thorny vines with small berries. Blackberries grow on upright canes, similar to red or black raspberries. At least in my part of the country.

Larry

We use to have them around here and were found in vacant fields that the ground was poor. Don't see them around here any more . The ones we had around here tasted as good as black berries.

We have dewberries here in west central Ill. they usually ripen in the mid to last part of June. We also have blackberries that ripen at about the same time, and maybe a week or two later. The dewberries are a lot larger and sweeter than the common blackberry and also less seedy. You can basically eat the dewberries when dead ripe without and sugar and are really sweet. Something even better than the dewberries were the wild strawberries. Fifty years ago they were abundant around her, but I guess the weed killers and pesticides have about eliminated them.

wow- ours haven't even budded yet!

We get those, won't get into the names they seem to vary, but the black ones like yours sure grow a thick stalk, they will take over and proliferate, I remember a huge bush under the powerlines, loaded with berries every year, a wild rasberry or something similar, was different than the black ones. They never used to mow, clear or even spray in those days. I don't think I could grow em any better than mother nature does. I have used the rotary to cut em down where they were dense and were encroaching on the ole tractor path. Red ones like yours too, a smaller plant, with more green, they come first then the others. Mid June wild strawberries can be found too.

Those black berries apparently have some very good nutritional value, anti oxidants etc.

JerryS., If that patch was here in Texas, that is Prime... Copperhead Snake Habitat! Those nasty devils love that stuff here!
Later,
John A.

Well, John, it's almost in Texas--I'm about 10 miles from the Texas line. And yes, I know there's copperheads lurking about---I killed a small one on my back porch last week. But in all the years I've picked berries I've never seen one (doesn't mean they weren't there) and I hardly ever even think about them.

Definitely Dew Berries as they are on runners close to the ground Blackberries grow on upright canes.Dew Berries are usually much sweeter than
Blackberries.