The rental property we had been living in since 2013 was a duplex with a two bedroom unit on the street side and a one bedroom apartment on the back side. The entire property was derelict when we moved in mid 2013 and the property management company told us we could do whatever we wanted with the yard. Being a gardener, I of course went to town on it. Once the property sold in 2016, the new owners wanted to live in the larger unit so we moved to the apartment in the back. The young couple that had rented there before us had planted an apricot tree, a nectarine tree and a thornless blackberry vine all together against a side fence. We moved the trees to a better location in the back yard but left the blackberry next to the side fence. From 2016 to 2021, the blackberry vine expanded to a huge clump that covered the entire side fence. The berries have good flavor but large seeds so we use them to make delicious jam and syrup. Once we found our property in Redmond and decided to move, our landlords let us know that whatever plants we did not take with us, they were planning to rip out to streamline the landscaping down to low maintenance since we were not going to be there to take care of what we had grown over the years. The blackberries were the first plants that we moved. In the fall of 2021 I severely pruned the vines to 4' tall stalks. We dismantled the structure that held up the vines and moved it along with the plants. We dug a raised bed, amended the soil and planted the vines at our new property in mid November with our fingers crossed. I usually do not like to move plants that late in the year but we really did not want to leave all the major moving to the spring when we were so busy with the remodel and knew we would be finishing up the project and moving at the same time. The first picture shows the pitiful stalks in their new home.
Originally the raspberries were volunteers that came up under the fence from the property to the north of the apartment we were renting. Raspberries like to travel and they are hard to contain when they are seeking water. We watered our side of the fence so they naturally decided to move over toward water. I have witnessed raspberry sprouts coming up many feet away from the parent plant in search of water. My husband was happy to nurture and expanded them on our side of the fence so we ended up with quite a large clump. Once our landlord purchased that house and moved in next door in 2019, they did a yard rehab and eliminated all the raspberries on their side. Spring 2021 we were hard at the construction project and took one day to move the raspberries to their new raised bed. Thankfully the raspberries and the blackberries survived the move and are still thriving.
The second two pictures show what the raspberries on the right and the blackberries on the left looked like in the early spring 2022. we added two strawberry beds with everbearing strawberry plants from Wilco and other garden stores. It is the beginning of the berry garden!
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