Planting Blackberries - Another Step In Building Our Food Forest

We have a goal on the homestead to turn our garden into a perennial food forest. It being only our second spring means we have a long way to go, but each small thing we do today will pay back 7 folds in a few years. As a homesteader you are always investing in the future and I think planting berries and trees are a perfect example of that. Right now they might not seem like much, but in a few years this garden will be bursting with life while feeding our family.

We came a cross some first year blackberry plants locally for quite a deal and added them to the garden near the raspberries and cherry trees. I think this will be my favorite spot in the garden in a few years!

The first thing we did is auger some deep holes in the area.

We like to make the holes deep for a reason, and that’s to add some compost, grass cuttings and others items that will feed the plant as the items break down and decompose. This time I added some kitchen scraps that were about halfway broken down, then added a layer of dried grass cutting on top to give the roots a bit of a buffer layer from the scraps.

Then I added in some nutrient rich soil full of earthworms and placed the plant in, filling in around the edges.

We have found that mulching is just necessary around here, and probably everywhere. It has really improved the health of not only our berries, but all of our other plants as well. So, for this area, I added a very think layer of dried grass clippings around the plants and will continue to do so while it grows.

While grass clipping may not be the optimal mulch cover, it’s something we have readily available and I think trying to use the items we have, rather than buying or making other items is an important concept as a homesteader. Many have access to hay, which I think makes perfect mulch, but since that is something we would have to purchase...it just doesn’t make sense for us personally. So, I’m giving the grass clippings a try and we will see how it goes! For to the rest of the garden I do prefer wood chips, and we have been making our own here for that, eventually I may add those around the berries as well.

We have been using the grass clippings around the raspberries we planted last year and they seem to really be flourishing. Now that they are getting a bit bigger I will be adding some thick layers of the clippings around the plants to try to cut down on some of that grass peeking through, but they are healthy and even have a few buds popping up!