From Humble Beginnings To A Sweet Finish

Last year, my mother gave me a blackberry plant.

She had planned on using it herself, but then gave it to me instead.

To be honest, I hadn’t really thought seriously about growing berries in my garden.  But, as a child, we had quite a few blackberry bushes in our backyard and I remember eating blackberries over vanilla ice cream.  

So, I planted my single blackberry bush in my edible side garden where one of my vegetable gardens is located along with my fruit tree.

This spring, I was delighted to find the beginnings of little blackberry flowers…

Soon, I had tiny, green berries covering my blackberry bush…

Blackberry plant

I could hardly wait until they ripened.

Every few days, my son, Kai, would run outside to check on how they were ripening.  He would always come in with a few ripe ones.

I froze the berries in batches since they did not all ripen at the same time.

Then I stored them away in the freezer until a special occasion in which to serve them.

BUT, you know what happened?

I forgot about them until the other day when I was rummaging about in my freezer.

So I brought them out and prepared to make a blackberry topping for my homemade angel food cake.

I added sugar to the berries, which helps them to release their delicious juices.

A couple of hours later, I mashed them and served them over cake…

They were so sweet and delicious.

It was fun to surprise my family with this truly homemade dessert.

**Last winter, I planted 6 additional blackberry bushes.  I can’t wait to harvest berries next year!

What is your favorite type of berry to eat?

Do you grow any berries?

What kinds?

Noelle Johnson, aka, 'AZ Plant Lady' is a author, horticulturist, and landscape consultant who helps people learn how to create, grow, and maintain beautiful desert gardens that thrive in a hot, dry climate. She does this through her consulting services, her online class Desert Gardening 101, and her monthly membership club, Through the Garden Gate. As she likes to tell desert-dwellers, "Gardening in the desert isn't hard, but it is different."