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I'm in NYC with a small garden in an outer borough (Queens). I put in a single blackberry plant about 3 years ago.
Even under these limited circumstances, I would say the main thing to get ready for is that black berries grow like a weed. So do raspberries, although they take a few years longer to get out of control. In a few years you will have more blackberries than you can eat, but it may crowd out everything else if you are not vigilant. If you have a big backyard or garden, find a large space for them that you can devote entirely to them.
Secondly, I have never been able to manage the pruning thing the way most Ag Dept circulars say I should. They say that canes that grow in year 1 bear the most fruit in year 2. My experiments seem to show that canes that grow in year one bear the most fruit in year 1. My second year canes produce almost no fruit, but spread the plant like crazy. That may be because I bought some sort of new fangled hybrid at the garden center aimed at lazy, unskilled urban gardeners like me. So I've found that cutting them back completely in the winter gives me the biggest crop in the immediately following summer. That said, it's important to know the variety you bought and it's fruiting habit, and therefore how and when to prune.
Overall, they are very easy to grow. I have mine against a fence, but I think I'm going to move them early this spring and build a trellis for easier management.
Hope that helps.
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