Do you ever feel like you have so many things to do that you don't know where to start? That's where I am these days. The days leading up to the start of spring are incredibly busy! The past weekend brought a return of winter so I did my best to get as much canning done as possible. I made more pasta sauce which is almost an all day affair, and I made more blackberry jam from my stash of blackberries I have stored in my freezer. I am very happy to announce that I finally used up all of the frozen tomatoes I had stored. Yay! (I can't say the same for the blackberries) I guess it's time to make more cobbler. 😋😉
The winter storm we encountered a few days ago is long gone. The past couple of days have once again been very spring-like so I have been working on pruning blackberries. It's quite a job! It will take me a few more days. It's an even bigger job disposing of all the cuttings. Blackberry canes can grow several feet long....(I'm talking like.....25 feet) When I use the word "unruly," that is exactly how they can become. They must be maintained and controlled or they can become a jungle trying to traverse through. Of course we also trellis them so that helps to keep them contained. Even though I am cutting them back to about 3 1/2 to 4 feet tall, it won't take them long to grow back. The pruning encourages new growth and the health of the plant. Old or dead canes are cut out and removed. Like I said before, sometimes pruning is scary. I always worry that I'm cutting too much or I'm damaging the plant. They are resilient though! They will start producing beautiful plump berries before I know it. Now I REALLY need to figure out what to do with all of the ones I still have frozen. 😳 Actually, it's a nice problem to have. 😁
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