Last year I planted blackberries and raspberries around 3 sides of my apiary. The berries act as a windblock for the bees and it was nice to give the berries a place where they could go a little hogwild.
And they have. Some of the canes are a good 12 feet long. When we prune next, I'm going to pull out my 4 ft stakes and put in some 6 ft ones so I can impose some order into this thicket and make it easier to harvest.
As it is, Pepper snags the ripe berries at the bottom and we lose a few on the interior of the thicket where they can't be seen, but we're getting enough that everyone is happily munching on fresh blackberries most days.
