Here in Victoria … well actually most of Vancouver Island … we’re ‘blessed’ with an abundance of wild blackberries. They grow wild everywhere and will take over any space they can.
These blackberries are not only opportunistic … but they’re vicious and will draw blood whenever they can! In fact some people believe that the blood of unwary pickers is what feeds the plants and helps them produce their tasty fruits year after year!
These blackberry plants are the introduced and invasive Himalayan Blackberry – native to Armenia and Iran. To some people they’re a curse; and indeed they’re almost impossible to kill once they’ve become established. To others they’re eagerly anticipated and made into the best pies, jams and preserves that you can imagine. And they’re heavenly on ice cream!
Linda Picking berries with my homemade ‘berry bucket’!
Trying not to get caught in the thorns!
They are usually ready to begin picking in around late July or early August and will last (depending on the heat and rainfall in any particular year) until mid-September.
Here I am picking the last of the season’s berries. I’m embarrassed to say that most of the berries didn’t make it into the bucket … I couldn’t resist their luscious, ripe fruitiness!
Not all of the berries make it into the bucket!
If you’re so inclined, pick up a bucket of some sort and pick away. You’ll find giant patches of them in almost any vacant field or along any rural roadway.
Where can I find blackberries to pick while I’m visiting Victoria
Hi! The blackberry ‘season’ is just coming on full steam ahead. Looks to be a good year for berries! The beauty of these berries is that they’re practically everywhere! Along roads, in parks … there’s some great picking out around the Vancouver Island Tech Park … (Markham St.) … but they’re popular and get picked regularly. If you see a good patch, try to get there on maybe a Thursday morning as the weekends are the most popular for picking and they will take a few days to ripen more. Basically just look around and you should find some. Kind of hard to tell you more specifically as there are a lot of out-of-the-way places that are good but you need to know where and how to get there. Good luck and yum!
linda