Obvious, but...berry brambles.

**ZombieHuntress** · 04-30-2012, 07:47 PM

I was kind of surprised to find out how many people have NO CLUE what they look like, or where to find them. I've been teaching my husband how to recognize them. Also about the fact that you need only 2 things to gather berries from them...gloves, and boots.

The gloves are obvious...those brambles have got some SHARP thorns in them and you can get cut up pretty decently when you have to reach deeper into the brambles to reach the food.

The boot, maybe not so obvious to some. Berry brambles attract snakes. Yes, they are "more scared of you, than you are of them" but why invite trouble? Most times, it's just little garter snakes and such, but again...you never know. If it's 100 degrees outside, you might find any number of critters in there who don't like having their all-in-one shelter/food supply disturbed.

Generally, using a stick to disturb the bramble before you start reaching/stepping into it is a decent place to start, just to scare off anything under there that might take offense to your presence.

As far as I've seen, the berry season is usually late Spring through end of summer depending on where you are.

If you're a grow your own type, planting the whole berries is a great way to start a bramble. The seeds are basically already grown in their own fertilizer. Just be advised...brambles will take over if you don't pay attention. They go wild and get HUGE if you don't keep them pruned back a bit. best time to do the real cutting back while they are dormant, which is in the early winter. They WILL grow back. Promise.

**longhunter** · 04-30-2012, 07:59 PM

In my neck of the woods it's not the snakes I worry about berry picking, it's the ticks and chiggars!

**stairman** · 04-30-2012, 09:11 PM

sticking your arm in is easier than pulling it out, the way the barbs go. Ours are still green but while in Mississippi mid April they were ripe everywhere. I too stir up the bush to scare snakes. Lots of vitamin c and fiber.

**myakka** · 04-30-2012, 09:39 PM

Are these what I have always called wild blackberrys? Post a pic so I can compare please.

**JLBIII** · 04-30-2012, 10:11 PM

Originally Posted by myakka62

Are these what I have always called wild blackberrys? Post a pic so I can compare please.

Heheh, I was thinking the exact same thing. I have a huge patch of blackberries behind my garden shed which provide us with more berries than we can eat. We eat them as is, make jam out of them, use them for toppings on ice cream etc. I would love to try to make blackberry wine with some but the wife won't let me. I've been sober for 19 years and she is scared that even if it's just wine I might relapse, though I still would love to give it a shot.

Joe

**Oscar Wilde** · 04-30-2012, 10:21 PM

Originally Posted by myakka62

Are these what I have always called wild blackberrys?

Not sure of the proper names. Someone once told me the plants are distinguished by the number of leaves, 3 or 5.

Regardless, I'll have a bumper crop here.

O.W.

**snake35** · 05-01-2012, 10:07 AM

Our berries here in West Virginia generally ripen about july.

**TheLastMountainMan** · 05-01-2012, 10:56 AM

They also work great as a perimeter defense. Who wants to walk through stuff like that.

**skeptic** · 05-01-2012, 01:11 PM

As a kid we'd play in Blackberry brambles like a fort. Once you crawl inside of a huge one, it's mostly empty space.

**myakka** · 06-25-2012, 07:15 AM

MAN!!!!! I am so "peeved"!!!! One of my coworkers was off-loading a tractor and disk a couple days ago, (we normally dont leave the disk hooked up.) And out of the blue he takes off into the "swamp" behind our office looping around and basically flattening everything in site.
We don't even own that land, although traditionally we have used it to train new guys. But while he was playing, and the point of putting this here.... He disked under my brambles!!!! SIGH.......