Growing raspberries for their next season/year

Posts

• fidgetbones Posts: 17,618

  July 2018

  You need to plant canes in the Autumn, preferably as soon as they have been lifted. You can probably order now for Autumn delivery. Allow a foot between each cane. Depending on the length of garden you have, you could have an early fruiter , followed by an autumn variety such as Polka.  Autumn planting gives the canes time to form new roots, Spring planting usually has a higher mortlaity rate, partly because the canes have been hanging around bare rooted in a warehouse for some time. Letting them dry out will kill them. I would also lay a soaker hose the full length to enable easy watering at the roots.  You will also need toput supports in to support the canes otherwise they will flop over your path when they are laden with berries.  Prepare the soil well beforehand with lots of well rotted compost or farm yard manure. Make sure there are no perennial weeds such as docks or dandelions , because they are a nightmare to get out later.
  

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• Shoxt3r Posts: 196

  July 2018 edited July 2018

  Ah interesting I never knew they were referred to as canes. Thanks for the help fidget bones! I guess it would be unlikely to find raspberry plants in a garden centre now so online ordering is key?
  
  So you think going for something early fruiting would be best? Is it worth me planting yet or waiting until Autumn? Yes my father and mother in law haven't had a good Spring/Summer crop of raspberries this year compared with previous years.

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• fidgetbones Posts: 17,618

  July 2018

  I have been picking bowls full. I have three varieties to spread the crop from June until September.  What is the length of the path?
  

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• Shoxt3r Posts: 196

  July 2018

  Wow, good going!
  The path must be around 20 feet long - I mistakenly said 2 feet wide when it's actually more like a foot (or less in places!). Maybe it isn't such an ideal spot but just want to make good use of it and always wanted to give raspberries a go. There's no other free space really.
  

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• purplerallim Posts: 5,287

  July 2018 edited July 2018

  In that small a space there is the chance they may lift the path, raspberries are vigorous. Maybe a fruit tree trained against the fence would be better.

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• ZeroZero1 Posts: 577

  July 2018

  Good news for you. I have a lot of rasperries. They are hardy plants and once esstablished THEY decided that they would inhabite a patch I had about a foot wide and 20 ft long (before a fence that divided my raised beds from my flower garden.) - sound like your patch They work great there. I simply run a rope along the line and this stops the raspberries flopping. 
  Rasperries run runners under the ground, after a year or so they often inhabit any odd corners if you let them. They decide where they want to go, so don't worry too much about plant placement - your just offering initial suggestions!
   I planted another group in a shaded bed, but they decided on their own volition to move to the next bed, they now inhabit that bed, and have died off where I planted them. They now grow in three raised beds under the dappled shade of an apple tree. They are easy enough to cut down if they are not wanted. 
  You should get two crops a year, one in summer, then a lull (about now - July) then a further crop in autumn. I feed mine with growmore. Prune out dead wood. 

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• Shoxt3r Posts: 196

  July 2018

  Thanks for the thought purplerallim - didn't realise they would be that strong!! It is a full concrete path as opposed to slabbed though - do you still think it would cause a problem?
  
  Thanks ZeroZero, that gives me a great deal of encouragement, they seem like sneaky plants to manage haha!
  
  Would it best for me to hold off until Autumn before planting or can I expect some fruit in Autumn if I plant now? I guess it may take a few months for them to get established. Any particular varieties I should look out for?
  

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• Dovefromabove Posts: 88,147

  July 2018 edited July 2018

  As @fidgetbones has said, do not plant now ... plant in the autumn 
  
  You will gain nothing by planting now, (even if they're available) as they need to become established before fruiting.
  
  Polka are the best autumn raspberry ... there was a thread here (last year?) and there was almost unanimous agreement.
  
  The advice about running a permanent soaker hose along the bed is good ... raspberries need a lot of water, especially in a narrow bed like that.
  
  Make use of the time now by incorporating a lot of organic matter into the bed in preparation for them. 

  
  Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
  
  
  
  
  
  

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• fidgetbones Posts: 17,618

  July 2018 edited July 2018

  I have slabbed paths, they have not lifted them, but they have sent runners underneath which have come up the other side. I chop them off with a sharp spade.
  

   For a 20ft run, I suggest the following..
  

  
  

  https://www.kenmuir.co.uk/index.php?route=product/category&path=80_85_167

  
  

  If you had five canes each of Malling Minerva, Glen ample, and Polka, you will have raspberries all summer. The first two are floricane, flower and fruit on previous years canes. You cut out the fruited canes after picking all the fruit, leaving new canes for fruit the following year.  Polka is a Primocane, you cut all the canes down early in the year, they then fruit in September on new canes.
  

  Because they are treated slightly differently, Make sure you label well.
  

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• ZeroZero1 Posts: 577

  July 2018

  Great advice from Dove, you could plant now, you might gain somethinitg if the plant estabilshes before the winder, but then again you might lose it. Spring is better. Any raspberry needs to establish first before fruiting, so you are at least a year off. Mine have just finished their first flush. 

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