Amy, this kind of image works much better is you are really close to the main subject. Here there is too much busy area around the berries. This composition and camera distance makes it difficult to get a really pleasing and obvious falloff of focus. You might also need to shoot this off a tripod of monopod to keep the center of DoF tack sharp.

PS, meant to ask what lens you used. Looks a bit like a telephoto?? Seems to have a bit of telephoto compression in it, which also hurts you attempt at shallow DoF. Better to move closer and shoot a bit less zoomed in.

actually this came from a compact point and shoot...was walking around in the yard and saw the berries...had it in my pocket

Most of what I said still applies. Get yourself a little lightweight tripod at Target or Best Buy for about $20. Most of the point and shots have threads to mount on a tripod. The biggest problem you will probably have is how close it will focus.

You may also try changing the position of your subject (in this case the Berries) in different parts of the frame (as opposed to dead center).

As an exercise, Go back out to the yard and take a few more photos of the same berries. Place the berries in a different part of the frame in each shot (top left, lower left, top right, lower right etc)

Review these images and you may find certain ones appeal to you more than others. Looks for other elements in the each position like the leaves hanging off the sides. See how these add or detract to the overall image in the different versions of the shot.

If you like the shallow dof (as I do) you might consider lowering your camera angle so that the background gets more distance from the subject as the ground stretches away from you. It's a quick way of getting dof when working with a compact.

thanks everyone for the suggestions