Has anyone started picking blackberries yet this summer?

[Netcurtainnelly]

Anyone picked blackberries yet?

Yes loads in Oxfordshire!

Yes, loads in the garden!

We have some ripe ones around us. I haven't picked any though as I usually make bramble jelly and I'm on a strict diet so can't eat it (and I still have jam left from last year...)

on another note - has anyone tried dehydrating blackberries? I hate waste and have recently bought a dehydrator to cope with a glut of courgettes and tomatoes. If blackberries are good to dehydrate them I will pick some.

Waiting on them. We've had disappointing growth for two years, (London) those that do ripen are bitter. I have liqueur to make...

I've been picking for about 3 weeks. There are obviously different varieties, some areas are nearly done, others won't be ready for another 2-3 weeks. Looks like it's going to be a bumper year for sloes.

Three weeks here too. So sweet and tasty. The dogs pick their own.

I've tried, they're not very good and it takes an age. You could make blackberry gin/brandy with them if you pick some?

Yep. We have a huge bush in the ginnel right behind our house so I can pop out in my PJs as no one else goes out there (they all have sheds - I still use it to access my garage).

Have had two large containers full in the last week.

The wild ones and the cultivated ones on my allotment have been going for a few weeks here in London, but I think that’s ‘normal’ now with climate change, thinking about picking them on the way back from school in July before the summer holidays a few years ago.

How do you prepare them for freezing, any special methods required?

Yes, my children had a handful from the hedge at the bottom of the garden just this morning. Not many to be had yet. Devon.

Bucks - have loads of brambles in my back garden that I'm refusing to get rid of as the kids love them. Picked loads so far, and haven't even got the stool out to do the higher up ones yet 😆

Loads in Surrey. Going picking later with granny’s old hooker walking stick and gardening gloves!

To freeze I soak in water with a bit of white vinegar. To annoy any small creature and get them to float away. Then just drain and freeze in bags. Always been fine as the way I use them it doesn’t matter if they’re a bit mushy. If you want separated berries freeze in trays.

I always make blackberry and coconut crumble cakes. Amazingly good.

A handful in Scotland most are not ready, much to the disappointment of my dog who picks his own off the bush but he has impeccable taste and only likes the juiciest ones

They’re tiny here and not worth picking. I’m in Sussex.

Yes, last week we picked a load and had blackberry crumble. They're really good this year and very early.

It's sad. Too early. And the dead leaves all over the ground make it look like autumn. Blackberry picking used to be at "back to school" time; they are at least a month early.

Oh wow - blackberries while it's still July!

The ones here (SE England) are not remotely ripe and they are looking dried and shrivelled up. I am not expecting much of a crop.

DP's off into the garden a bit later to get the first crop for smoothies. We're in London - and when I was off to an appointment in Central London on Thursday, every park/verge we drove past that had brambles was full of ripe blackberries.

Yes, loads in my garden. I'm off to buy some booze this afternoon to make blackberry vodka.

Absolutely nowhere near ripe in the northeast… but we’re usually several weeks behind the south

I tried some. They tasted very sharp, despite the weeks and weeks of sun we’ve had

We started picking them here in Bedfordshire about three weeks ago. There are huge numbers of ripe blackberries local to us, I have never seen so many.

Not yet, I reckon about two weeks to go.

I always make blackberry and coconut crumble cakes. Amazingly good.

These sound amazing @Lumpycat - would you mind sharing the recipe?