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"...or the vast banks of blackberries that litter Britain’s parks and heaths, largely overlooked except by the occasional elderly Pole or Czech..." Not so Up N

"...or the vast banks of blackberries that litter Britain’s parks and heaths, largely overlooked except by the occasional elderly Pole or Czech..." Not so Up North. I have had convivial blackberry picking sessions with many people from all walks of life as a native Brit. A good wash and pick over, then a crumble and for the last box boiling with sugar and straining to make a compote served with yoghurt and those rusk cakes. I hit the canal towpaths and nature parks in preference to road side plants. I will be researching this mulberry gin...

twic 9y ago
Or in East Anglia. One thing i've noticed on my walks in the country is that there are a lot of apple trees growing along the Iron-age tracks like the Ridgeway, Icknield Way, etc. I suppose once one traveller has thrown away an apple core, and a tree has grown from a seed, there are plenty more apples with which subsequent travellers can repeat the process. Iterate that over a thousand years and there's quite a collection.
- fencepost 9y ago
  Apples may not be such a great choice for that - they don't reproduce to the same type from seed, many of the resulting fruits won't be much good (if you get any), and you need at least one other compatible apple tree in close proximity for pollination. Basically the fruit is based on the tree you have, but the seeds in that fruit are a combination of the trees.
Symbiote 9y ago
I can't read the article (no subscription), but I wouldn't expect many blackberries to be left in the South -- except near a busy road. If nothing else, there are enough thrifty Northerners around :-) I tried a couple of times to pick them from near the tram tracks in South London, since that's far away from any pollution, but they'd always gone before I got there.
- CM30 9y ago
  Not sure where you are, but there are tons of blackberries growing around here in Essex way. The fields near here are almost entirely lined with them, as are the forests and other semi rural areas. I think they were used as barriers between fields at one point and have massively spread out since then. And yes, I do sometimes see people picking them, along with the other fruit that grows in the area.

twic 9y ago

Or in East Anglia. One thing i've noticed on my walks in the country is that there are a lot of apple trees growing along the Iron-age tracks like the Ridgeway, Icknield Way, etc. I suppose once one traveller has thrown away an apple core, and a tree has grown from a seed, there are plenty more apples with which subsequent travellers can repeat the process. Iterate that over a thousand years and there's quite a collection.

fencepost 9y ago
Apples may not be such a great choice for that - they don't reproduce to the same type from seed, many of the resulting fruits won't be much good (if you get any), and you need at least one other compatible apple tree in close proximity for pollination. Basically the fruit is based on the tree you have, but the seeds in that fruit are a combination of the trees.

Symbiote 9y ago

I can't read the article (no subscription), but I wouldn't expect many blackberries to be left in the South -- except near a busy road. If nothing else, there are enough thrifty Northerners around :-) I tried a couple of times to pick them from near the tram tracks in South London, since that's far away from any pollution, but they'd always gone before I got there.

CM30 9y ago
Not sure where you are, but there are tons of blackberries growing around here in Essex way. The fields near here are almost entirely lined with them, as are the forests and other semi rural areas. I think they were used as barriers between fields at one point and have massively spread out since then. And yes, I do sometimes see people picking them, along with the other fruit that grows in the area.