#FEBAZKA

Blackberries make excellent healthy snacks, eaten fresh or frozen. They also make the best jams and pies. To freeze for snacking, spread berries on a cooking sheet and place the sheet in the freezer. When frozen, remove the berries and place them in a freezer bag and back in the freezer. They can last for months this way and are great eating. Almost like candy, except good for you. Young leaves are also edible and make great tea. Blackberries and their leaves are some of the most nutritious food you can find. 
 
Plants will grow quickly. We grow them along fence lines. They will quickly follow the fence. Keep them trimmed each year and they will become organized, well kempt plants. Beautiful large pink white blossoms in the springtime fill the air with a sweet aroma. The bees go nuts. Himalayan plants have thorns, which can be a pain, literally. But that's the price we pay for the very best tasting berry. Species that have been crossed so they are thornless usually don't taste near as good. Nature seems to know best. 
 
Only use light fertilizer, and only if the plants look like they need it. Himalayan blackberry plants get most of what they need from natural soil. Heavy fertilizer will produce larger plants and fewer berries, which the birds will get before you will. In fact, we don't fertilize our plants at all. They love just the natural soil.