Blackberry Bushes - need some help/advice

We want to get more serious with growing some food around the property, one thing I love to eat are blackberries, and they supposedly grow very well in this area so I want to plant some.

Here are my questions:

• Anyone hear of DOYLE'S THORNLESS variety? Is it as good as the hype?
• How big (tall and wide) does a typical blackberry bush grow?
• How do you care for them? I know that SOME varieties of Raspberries produce fruit on 2nd year growth, others on new growth. But I don't have a clue about Blackberry bushes and how to care for them.
• Is it best to trellis them or allow them to grow in mounds?
• Can they be grown along a south facing wall or will they suffer from the reflected heat off the wall?
• Do deer bother blackberry bushes (eat them, or simply pick off the fruit)?

They are one of the most pervasive weeds around here. Growing them is not a problem so I can't really comment on it. We just go and find a trail somewhere sunny and start picking them. Around here the deer don't seem to bother with them much but it's hard to tell. They grow a foot a day during the summer.

My woods are full of wild berries too. They are horrid weeds, full of thorns, and they make life miserable when working in the woods.

But I'm looking at varieties that are far better behaved. Several are thornless or at least have reduced thorns. What I don't know is how much space they need and what they will tolerate in terms of exposure. Ideally I'd like to put them along the 24' wall of my workshop, but that faces south and I'm worried the sun reflecting against them will burn/harm the bushes. I'm also not sure about trellising them, and again that would work great along the workshop wall, but could be just as easily accomplished if they were freestanding and I built a trellis.

So, can anyone answer some of my questions about blackberries?

Bob,

I too have the wild kind but my grandfather used to grow them in a domesticated fashion.

As I recall (trying to keep the blueberry and blackberry differences straight), for blackberries:
The soil needs to be pretty acidic.
The blackberries can be trained/directed and he did grow them on trellises.
You can take blackberry vines and point them back into the ground and they'll root.
The bushes are about 5-6' tall.
His were grown in full sun. I do remember him watering them pretty regularly but don't know if that was "just him" or if they really needed it.

In general, deer don't bother them but birds will hit them pretty hard. You'll need to keep the birds away.