Traditional Approach

• One way to pick quickly is to double-team the blackberry bush. Have a partner pull a vine out and hold it while you pluck with both hands. If you decide to tackle it solo, then you can use a pocket tool with fold-out pliers and hold the end of the vine with the pliers and pluck with the other hand. It is likely that you will get stuck a few times, even if you wear a long-sleeved shirt. Be sure to pluck out any thorns and apply an antibacterial ointment if you do get needled. Once you've cleaned one vine, it's easy to tuck or weave it around other vines to get it out of your way while you start on the next vine. That's about the only time the thorns will ever be of any use to you--they'll help hold the vines in place. From then on, it's just of matter of repeating until you finish.
  
  

Taming Your Own Blackberries

• You can make picking thorny blackberries even easier if you decide to grow them yourself. If you plant a few in about a 6-to-10-foot row, you can weave them through a piece of fence or trellis. Make the fence as high as you want, but keep it within working height. Once the vines start growing, just "sew" them through the holes. You can do this every time you go out to the garden or yard where the berries are growing. Feel free to prune them--blackberries are pretty hardy. Now that the vines will be held in place, you won't need pliers or a partner to hold the vine. Mind your footing, though--you don't want to stomp out next year's vines. While you are in the vines, you can pull any dead vines up and help next year's crop. If no thornless variety is available, then obviously a pair of gloves and a bucket you can strap to a belt or hang over your shoulder are required.