All of a sudden blackberries have appeared in my front garden, presumably thanks to the birds :d  I presume that these are OK to eat?  I'm not well up on fruits as such, but they definitely look like blackberries and will make doing my smoothies a bit cheaper.

You can make really good drinks as well if you add a lot of gin/vodka and a bit of sugar!!

We  have tons of them & they scrummy pies Wild brambles are much better than the cultivated ones. I like them in homemade icecream or with cereal/yoghurt. Yummy Yummy

I love blackberries but after our recent trip and seeing rats climbing down the bushes and eating the berries I'm afraid it's put me off for life...........there are plenty of berries around this year though!

You'll be lucky to get any Blackberries if your dogs find them :D :D   I had a dog who used to pick his own all the time :D :D :D   He was grey and white normally but with the addition of purple on his beard in blackberry season :D :D :D :D

Blackberry & apple crumble...mmmmmmmm

Blackberry Jelly, no seeds.  I make it and give jars as gifts with a little tag that says the dog "likes to pick them too, but don't worry, she ate all hers."

Be careful where you are picking your blackberries from,In Swansea where I live there was a story in the local paper yesterday where a man was out walking his dog and passed a load of blackberry bushes as he was passing he picked a few blackberries and ate them,in the evening he was violently sick and had stomach cramps the dog was also unwell for a number of hours,the following day took the dog out for a walk in the same place,ate somemore blackberries the same thing happened that evening,the man was addmitted to hospital ,he had poisoning from the fruit,found out councils are now spraying blackberry bushes instead of cutting them back there has been uproar about this in Swansea.So be careful with yourselves and your dogs.

Not red too, on his beard?  From the blood?  Blackberries have wicked thorns, bad as roses.  My mostly white ESS used to come out with red all over her muzzle.  I guess Jet does too but being black herself it doesn't show up.  I will pick raspberries in shorts and bare arms but for blackberries I wear heavy bluejeans and a longsleeved shirt.

I notice in the UK some of you also call them brambles.  Here (Ontario, Canada), many people call them thimble berries.

Just waiting for the ones round here to ripen :rolleyes: The one thing i have noticed as well due to the lack of rain they are very tiny :(

You will have to come to East Yorks ours are HUGE :D

Rub it in why don't you MM :rolleyes::rolleyes: :D :D

You couldn't pick some for me ,make a job lot of jam and then post it to me   :D ( Blackberry and apple would be nice as well ;) :D

Hm Got a heavily laden Bramley apple tree too LOLOL

Just given some Brambles & Apples to my brother & my nearest neighbour

I don't do jam making Never got the instructions LOLOLOL

I haven't done jam making yet but I was hoping to do my first attempt this year It just isn't going to be blackberry jam :rolleyes: :D

If I remember I will bring some blackberry gin/vodka to LKA on Gundog day we can have a party after judging!!
Jan
Come to think of it there is some sloe gin as well.

Our blackberries are never ready to pick until September (they're a thornless variety) - they look quite big. The brambleys aren't ready for picking yet either, so hopefully they'll all be ready together :)

Daisy

They re quite big in my garden too!  Is it unusual for them suddenly to appear?  My mum's worried about me eating them but they definitely look like blackberries!

It does seem very early for the blackberries, I would have expected them more mid-late September judging by previous years. Can't take the dog for a walk anywhere here without being flanked by blackberries either side!
A cherry tree has also appeared in our garden this year, thanks to the birds perhaps, and that is now heavy with fruit as well.

Dont forget though - any blackberries left on the brambles after Michaelmas day are spat on by the devil !

Margot

Piddled on by the Devil, if my colleague is to be believed, Margot.

M.

No no, definitely spat on. :)

They are definately piddled on in Buckinghamshire :)  I know because my mother told me.

My colleague is a Lincolnshire lad, so I guess his originates from there.

M