Blackberry Horticulture


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====Horticulture is practicing the art of cultivating plants. There are four main areas within horticulture: fruit horticulture, vegetable horticulture, landscape horticulture and ornamental horticulture. Each area within horticulture has its own unique history and requirements. Fruit horticulture is the practice of cultivating fruit. The study of fruit cultivation is important to enhance the turn-out from any given crop, survivability of a crop and the flavor of the fruit. In this article, I will explore the history and practical application of blackberry horticulture. ====

History
====Fruit horticulture dates back past 4,000 B.C. when grapes were cultivated and grown for use in wine. During these ancient times, both the Greeks and the Romans would gather blackberries from the wild for use in medicinal remedies, but blackberries were thought to only grow in the wild. The idea of cultivating blackberries didn’t really develop until the 1730s when John Bartram and his son, William Bartram were sent into the countryside surrounding Georgia to find possible plants for growing on plantations in Georgia. Most of the study of cultivating blackberries has been done in America despite the fact that blackberry bushes grown on every continent except Australia and Antarctica. ====

Cultivation
====Cultivating blackberries requires the blackberry plants to be grown in moist, cool soil, but the quality of the soil can vary greatly. Blackberry bushes only require 2-3 hours of sunlight, and, in fact, the sweeter berries are produced when the plant spends most of the day in the shade. The more sun a blackberry bush receives, the larger the berry will be, but as it grows larger, it also loses some of its sweetness. Understanding how to grow blackberries is important because both humans and animals really enjoy blackberries, especially when they are sweet!====