Since we bought our house in the winter, we weren’t aware of the summertime treasure that came with the backyard: wild black raspberry bushes. They were overgrown and sprawling, but we decided it must be because the house was vacant for nearly a year, and there was nobody to maintain the yard.
Whenever I picked raspberries last summer, my legs looked like I had gotten into a fight with a litter of kittens…and lost.
So when they were done producing for the year, we trimmed them back to about 1 foot tall, thinking this wouldn’t hurt their productivity but would make them more manageable.
Instead, they came back bigger and stronger than before. I went to pick our raspberries last week, and was at least smart enough to wear long pants to protect my legs. As I brushed dark purple, nearly black, ripe berries into my bowl, the branches clung to my clothes and tore at my skin like so many souls begging to be released from the River Styx. Clearly, we need to tie them back or otherwise corral them for Savvy Garden 2013!
Oh, wow, they look wonderful and you got so many! I assume it was worth the pain.
What will you do with them?
Straight out of the bowl.
And a few raspberry pancakes, too!
oh wow! jealous of your great raspberry patch though!!!! fresh from the garden raspberries were one of my favorite summer treats when i was little. my mom had a HUGE raspberry patch in one of our gardens!
You and Danielle should collaborate and come up with a way to fight off your Raspberry bushes each year!
Yes we should!
My mom reminds me EVERY year that she spent one summer picking berries as her job growing up… and she ALWAYS makes sure to drive home the fact that raspberries are by far the worst to pick! I believe it goes (from best to worst) blueberries, then strawberries, then raspberries.
At any rate, your raspberries do look delicious!
Oh I love black raspberries!! I have some in the woods next to my house, but the birds usually eat most of them before I get to pick a significant amount
I went out to pick some more yesterday and the birds had gotten to them
Those look delicious – do they taste much different from a red raspberry?
A little more tart, I’d say!
BLACK raspberries! Those were my favorite back in the Midwest! I never see them here in the Northwest. I remember making jam with them back in the day. Though straight out of the bowl is a worthy way to deal with them, too.
ugh, i’m so jealous. i wish we lived closer – i would trade you figs for raspberries
so jealous! We recently moved, and hoefully can plant some berries this fall/winter.