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Original poster

Blackberry Picking

160 replies

girlfriend44 · 07/08/2022 16:20

Just been blackberry picking. Do people still do this as there where plenty there? Free fruit.
Does everyone just buy them now or do you still go picking?

OP posts:
Scrowy · 07/08/2022 16:50

Can people please be mindful of not trespassing and asking the landowner first if you are planning to go out fruit picking on farm land.

Usually they will say go for it but its not on to just leave a footpath and go and help yourselves from bushes and tree.

Ditto holly in winter.

liveforsummer · 07/08/2022 16:51

Yes but as above they are ready early this year. (For here anyway) Dd discovered them by chance otherwise we wouldn't have thought to go yet

KindergartenKop · 07/08/2022 16:51

In London they're always ready at the start of the summer hols.

Bllueblazerblack · 07/08/2022 16:54

We went blackberry picking on Friday evening and filled a large tub. DP makes the most wonderful jam with them. We shall be going out in a few days to pick more. It is far earlier than usual but even here in the North West there are plenty ripe ones to be found.

Vampirethriller · 07/08/2022 16:55

I made blackberry syrup, blackberryv vinegar and a blackberry crumble pie today! Picked 7lbs yesterday.

wherearebeefandonioncrisps · 07/08/2022 16:56

WonderingWanda · 07/08/2022 16:40

Yes, I love blackberrying. Take a litter picker and small step so you can pull high branches down and reach up a bit further!

Thank you so much for that tip!
It's always the best blackberries that are just out of reach.

Magicandspiders · 07/08/2022 16:57

Haha of course people do! We did yesterday. It is early for blackberries- they are out very early this year. Normally, they're out end of August, beginning of September. But they are here now and lots and lots of people pick them.

Manekinek0 · 07/08/2022 16:58

I love blackberry picking. I forage nettles (for soup), rosehips, dandilions, gorse, wild garlic, mushrooms...

BooksAndHooks · 07/08/2022 17:00

We usually do. This was the first year we had some growing on our blackberry plant at home but they didn’t survive the heat wave.

BeanieTeen · 07/08/2022 17:02

Loads where we live, people pick them all the time.

LucyLoopyLu · 07/08/2022 17:03

I've tasted a few this week but the vast majority are nowhere near ripe yet! Next week or week after I will get some for gin and for crumbles

wherearebeefandonioncrisps · 07/08/2022 17:03

Blackberries are in abundance in my corner of Kent, never seen so many ripe this early. I expect those two days of extreme heat pushed them on a bit.

Threeboysandadog · 07/08/2022 17:08

It’s early for the here (Scottish Highlands) but loads of raspberries ready. I’m still using raspberry jam from last year.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 07/08/2022 17:10

It’s been so dry around here, everything parched, I don’t think there’ll be any. I pass lots of brambles on my usual walk and the fruits is all wizened and dried up.🙁

Babdoc · 07/08/2022 17:10

I’m in Perthshire. They are only just starting to ripen in my garden, but the wild ones in the fields south of the village are further ahead.
DD regularly goes foraging on the outskirts of Edinburgh, and comes back with wild gooseberries, apples, brambles, cherries, and some amazing fungi. She staggered home with a single three pound dryad’s saddle toadstool the other day, and it made meals for a week! She gets a lot of chicken-of-the-woods fungus too.

Terfydactyl · 07/08/2022 17:12

too early yet for Blackberries well the ones in my garden aren't ripe, but the loquats are almost past their best. I got a load on Friday, the last of them I think.
I have had my third crop of rhubarb this year and if the weather carries on like this I'll have another crop, maybe 2.

stuntbubbles · 07/08/2022 17:15

Plenty are ripe already near us (south London). We haven’t gone specifically picking for jam yet, just eating as we roam. DD is almost permanently purple.

Summerfun54321 · 07/08/2022 17:20

They’ve been ripe and ready for a few weeks here - loads of families pick them on walks so you’re lucky if you get any here. Same with the Apple and cherry trees on public land.

InChocolateWeTrust · 07/08/2022 17:22

We pick loads every year but I feel like few people where I live do. My kids love blackberries

Remainiac · 07/08/2022 17:24

Way too early here. We went for a walk today round our favourite blackberrying spots and the berries are small, hard, unripe. They look to me like they need a good couple of sunny wet weeks yet. August bank holiday is my usual picking weekend.

RustyBear · 07/08/2022 17:24

They are very early here this year (Berkshire) - I got some lovely ripe ones from our back border about a fortnight ago, though the ones in the hedge look as if they'll be ripe next week - when we're on holiday 🙁

Christmasiscomingitis · 07/08/2022 17:27

stepmad · 07/08/2022 16:31

I have made ten jars of jam eight packets in the freezer for winter crumbles plus some for the fridge.

I've made 8 jars and have opened my third jar this morning! They've only been ripe for maximum of 2 weeks 😳

I like to get them as soon as they're ripe and pick some every day (birds can pick from the back of the bush) but I can never strip a Bush no matter how long I pick.

I don't like to wait either because the wasps get to them later on

Blackdiame · 07/08/2022 17:28

They're ripening round here but they're not plump enough like previous years with the lack of rain. The wild raspberries and blueberries have been abundant tho.

Matildahoney · 07/08/2022 17:28

The ones in my garden are nearly finished! We've had kilos and kilos of them, definitely not too early, been eating them for weeks

User48751490 · 07/08/2022 17:29

Too early for picking the berries where we are, but should be fine in 2-3 weeks time.