Fruit as a windbreak .. blackberry or raspberry

My allotment, runs east west, with the top end being next to the boundary fence.

The main fence is one of those tall fences, but a previous allotment holder has nailed 8' x 4' sheets of board on the inside, ie to the posts. These are actually that cheap sterling board, so have little strength. The gap in the middle (ie between the fence and boards seems to have be en filled with rubbish.
The timber is a bit of an eye sore.

I want to remove it and instead put some fruit. This will not be my main fruit spot ... whatever I put there will be 'fend for themselves' bushes. All I want, it a bit of a windbreak, but with the benefits of a pleasant view and any fruit would be a bonus.

Would blackberry or raspberries be better.

Several other plots have big 'bramble hedges' on their boundaries, which is really all I want too.

thanks for any advice provided

 

Thornless blackberries are fab, and probably require about an hour's maintenance per plant per year. (Cutting out about 4 of the old stems, disposing of them and tying in the new ones.) One plant would be enough for about 20' of fence, probably, as they send out stems up to 15' long. They look great when flowering or fruiting and, of course, are very tasty, producing more fruit than you could eat, usually. NB, thornless is important!

Raspberries are equally delicious, but IMO need a bit more maintenance (cutting out the old stems from a whole row, disposal, tying in and controlling unwanted spreading at the roots). Also, they are not so decorative. However, you could have a longer cropping time by careful choice of varieties.

If the fence is long enough, why not have both?

 

I've planted Myrobalan (Cherry) Plum hedges around my poly tunnels area as a windbreak plus source of fruit. http://www.buckingham-nurseries.co.uk/acatalog/product_10262.html
My (Autumn) Raspberries get cut down and there's more Blackberries than I can pick growing on the local hedgerows, so I thought I'd combine a windbreak with a source of alternative fruit.

They'll take much longer than vigorous brambles, but I reckon they'll be worth it in the end. There's loads of them in the hedgerows and we used to get masses for eating, jam, chutney and wine, but the hedges keep getting cut in good plum years and left in rubbish years, so I thought it was time for hedges of my own.



They're about the same size as damsons and come in all sorts of colours from yellow to almost purple. According to Richard Maybe in one of his books they used to be grown commercially not too far away many years ago. And that pic just doesn't do justice to a cherry plum bush in a good year when the branches are weighed down under the weight of the crop.

 

Thanks for that idea .. I was quite convinced, as well as the plants being pretty cheap.

However the link Buckingham Nurseries site says they wouldn't be suitable for a coastal site, which my plot is, well about 1 mile from the coast.

 

A load of nonsense as I've seen them growing prolifically at Barry Island, walking towards Friars Point. (and advised some locals what they were, and what they could be used for)

 

Raspberries will provide a thicket over time, so will make a good windbreak, however once thinned (Summer fruiting varieties) in the Autumn its not as much of a windbreak as during the Summer and Autumn fruiting varieties are cut to the ground, entirely, by Winter so no use as a winter windbreak.

Blackberries (presuming you train them on wires) won't providing anything like as much windbreak.

If the fence posts are still sound you could attach scaffolder's debris netting to them (instead of the boards), that will give you an excellent windbreak, should last for 5 years at least I would guess, and is cheap to buy. I got mine from Tarpaflex (Get the Black, the other colours are a bit day-glo for the garden!)



Although you can hardly see it there is Debris netting attached to an existing chicken wire rabbit fence to protect the new Yew hedge from the East wind. Raspberries are up the middle of the picture - Autumn fruiting in the foreground (not very tall) and Summer fruiting (taller) at the far end. Photo taken on 26-May

 

I guess you like Raspberries eh Kristen?

 

10 varieties, 10 canes each, from mega-early to so-late-the-frost-normally-gets-them

 

There's also Blackthorn that will stand up to anything ,you'd need to keep them in check to save excluding light to your plot

 

If your using scaffolders debris netting, don't be tempted to double up on it. The wind will catch it like a sail and pull your fence down. I've seen this happen at our allotments.

Steve...