• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Nancy Reading
  • Carla Burke
  • r ranson
  • John F Dean
  • paul wheaton
  • Pearl Sutton
stewards:
  • Jay Angler
  • Liv Smith
  • Leigh Tate
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
  • Timothy Norton
gardeners:
  • thomas rubino
  • Jeremy VanGelder
  • Maieshe Ljin

Blackberry /raspberry market garden help- layout and what plants to add to guild?

 
Posts: 35
4
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Hi there, I’m in South. Carolina zone 7 b, blackberries grow wild here and usually do well, but I’m planning a market garden for them utilizing permaculture methods.
2 questions-
What other plants to add to a blackberry guild? Raspberry guild?
How to lay it out?
We have a slope so will be planting on contour and using t posts and wire to support the berries, wondering with that setup, would spacing between rows or width of rows be different when using permaculture methods? How many support plants to blackberries? Or just do a basic market garden layout and add in support species as an understory and occasionally between berry bushes?
 
gardener
Posts: 1251
Location: North Carolina zone 7
446
5
hugelkultur forest garden fungi foraging ungarbage
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Hi Anna. I too reside in zone 7b, but in NC. Are you planning to use the native invasive blackberries or a different type?
 
steward
Posts: 16058
Location: USDA Zone 8a
4272
dog hunting food preservation cooking bee greening the desert
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Anna, you might find this post of interest as this is about a market garden with berries and other plants:

https://permies.com/t/41285/Berries-market#415560

He is in NC and talks about his layout and which plants are on which row.
 
pollinator
Posts: 3842
Location: Kent, UK - Zone 8
696
books composting toilet bee rocket stoves wood heat homestead
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
They may grow wild, but I would definitely recommend working with cultivated varieties. The wild varieties of blackberry have hugely variable fruit; flavour, sweetness, size, quantity of pith, toughness etc... For a market garden you want a reliable product you can sell, so cultivated strains are hugely beneficial.

As for a guild, my experience is that blackberries grow best natively in either exposed soils or in shaded woodland. However they don't tend to fruit prolifically in shade. That gives you an indication of the conditions they like - their roots systems seem to thrive in soil with high carbon content (forest floor). They don't do as well with root zone competition from grasses and the like.

I would consider a plan with plentiful use of comfry (shades the soil, reducing root zone competition with grasses) and mulching with woodchips. Well rotted chips are best, to avoid the nitrogen leeching that can happen. I would plant comfry in the path area, where the stems will flop sideways, then mow/slash it down around picking time.
 
Your mind is under my control .... your will is now mine .... read this tiny ad
A rocket mass heater is the most sustainable way to heat a conventional home
http://woodheat.net
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic