Taming My Black Raspberries
When I was a kid we had all sorts of cane berries in our backyard grown from cuttings taken from my great-grandmother's farm. I loved eating them and would commonly snack on them right off the bushes. In the morning I would often head out to the backyard with my cereal bowl to top it with fresh raspberries or blackberries. At the peak of the season there were so many berries that my sister and I would harvest them so that our family could freeze them for winter. 
With my berry loving history I was delighted to discover when I bought my house that the previous owners had planted black raspberries behind the garage. Truth be told it is not the best location for them due to limited sun, however they seem to really thrive back there. I really enjoy the berries and over the years I have eaten them fresh, included them in mixed berry pie and combined them with red raspberries to make jam. They are such a wonderful summer treat.
Sadly, however, due to neglect from the previous owners and also from me they had become completely overgrown and weeds were taking over. It was so bad that I could only pick berries on the outside of the bushes.
This year I decided to do something about it. I spent a Sunday afternoon early this summer starting to clean the area out. I didn't make a big dent but I was happy to be making some progress. That happiness was shortlived however because I woke up the next day with a huge rash on my arms, likely from poison ivy or something similar. It was awful! I felt like my arms were on fire. I had to keep my arms slathered in calamine lotion and keep taking Benadryl to make it even somewhat bearable. Six months later I still have some faint scars on my arms from this. Needless to say, operation "Tame the Black Raspberries" was quickly aborted.
Even though I decided I wasn't going to clean it out myself it still needed to be done. When I scheduled to have my gutters cleaned out this fall I decided to ask if he would also clean out the area behind the garage. He always charges me really great prices and even if he didn't it would have been worth it simply to not have to mess with it. As an aside if you are looking for yard work in the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area, let me know and I will give you his contact information. I wasn't sure when he would make it over, but this week on Wednesday night I came home and it was all cleared out! Here is a photo of how it looked all overgrown at the beginning of this summer and now.
It looks a little desolate now and I still need to do a bit of weeding amongst the canes but I am so excited to finally be able to take control of this space. I have some great plans for it this summer. I want to build a lattice for the berries to keep things orderly and under control. Along the right side I want to level the ground and cover it with pea gravel and pavers to create a walkway next to the berries for easy picking. Finally in the back I plan to build a dual compost bin for myself. I think it will look cute and make good use of this currently wasted space in my yard.
Have you ever let any plants get out of control in your yard? Do you have any summer gardening or yard plans for next year that you are thinking about now?
Friday, November 16, 2012 at 8:13AM | Posted by Lisa | 2 Comments | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article 
Reader Comments (2)
I like your option of letting someone else tackle the taming of the berry bushes. I have a "yard man" I call on for some of the really tough gardening/yard jobs, it is so worth the money. I have a small, escaped from the neighbours, raspberry cane. I enjoy the few berries it produces.
When I first started gardening I was given some plants that had some extras in the clump. Those extras turned out to be the bane of my gardening days - even 20 years later. This hitchhiker goes by many names and I think it does this so the truth of its ramp growth is disguised. Some names are; Snow On The Mountai or Gout Weed - I just call it Invader. After much work I have it tamed to a small region at the back of my garden under a tree which is also a weed tree - Manitoba Maple. The two invaders make a nice back drop and can stay provided they do not go on any further excursions.
Mary-Lou- After getting that skin rash, thinking about clearing out the rest of it myself made my skin crawl. It was totally worth it to pay to have it taken care of. Good luck with taming your invaders! It is always tough and it sounds like you have had quite a battle. I have an English Ivy problem in my front yard. Just when I think I have it all gone it pops up somewhere else...