Been given some raspberries...
Charlotte2311
Posts: 50
I bought a couple of lavender plants from a man off of Gumtree today, he was nice enough to deliver them to me as he was coming past the house anyway. He brought with him some raspberry plants and asked me if I wanted them as he had too many. Of course I said yes! The only issue is that we've only recently moved into the house, we have a small terrace garden so I'm wondering how best to look after these raspberries. The garden is east facing, the soil is soft and appears good quality, however the presence of a big fir tree at the end of the garden means there are a lot of pine needles in the soil- I'm guessing this will affect the acidity?
The front of the garden gets quite a bit of sun. Would it be best to keep them in pots? If so, how big do the pots need to be? Here's a picture attached...please ignore the mess as theres so much work to do inside the house I havent had a chance to get outside really yet! Ive never personally kept raspberries but my parents live on a farm and a few years ago they planted some. They've not touched them and they've spread like wildfire! Any advice would be appriciated. Thanks!
Posts
Hello Charlotte,
Raspberries shouldn't mind a bit of acidity, in fact I believe they prefer it. I'd get some compost or well-rotted manure down though to make sure they don't go hungry!
Owen.
They'll do much better in the ground than in pots. As Owen suggested, add lots of compost/well rotted manure as you plant them. A good amount of sun is best, but some shade morning/evening is fine. I don't think they'll be too bothered by the fir needled, as long as you have amended the soil at planting (and mulch yearly with leaf mould/grass clippings/etc). Consider putting up a support at the time of planting, just to keep things tidy and make picking easier. Two heights of wires between sets of t-posts work great.