The common barberry (Berberis vulgaris) is known to home gardeners as the perfect hedge plant with a summer privacy factor. However, its importance as a supplier of extremely healthy berries has fallen into oblivion. Only the popular name sour thorn indicates the formerly important function as a fruit tree. Do you want to dare the experiment and taste the tart fruits? Then read here when the harvest time begins and how to recognize ripe barberries.
Barberries are harvested in late summer
Harvest time begins at the end of August
After flowering in May and June, you don't have to wait long for harvest to begin. In July, the yellow flowers turn into oblong, 1 cm long berries in a sunny location. As long as the fruits are still green, the harvest window remains closed.
From the end of August/beginning of September, sour thorn berries shine bright scarlet to dark red. The fruit uses this color to signal that it is ready for harvest.