Wednesday, March 9

Stocking up on raspberries.

Last year we bought thirty new raspberry canes – ten each of Glen Moy - early, Glen Ample – mid season and Glen Magna – late summer. Just as with the strawberries we wanted to try and make sure that we had raspberries for as long a season as possible. As well as being delicious unlike strawberries, raspberries freeze really well too so that’s an added bonus.

We already had a couple of autumn fruiting varieties that have been growing for ages now, Fall Gold or All Gold (it seems to have two names!) which as you can guess from its names has yellow fruit and Joan J (which is really not doing very well – I think it suffers from being planted in the shadow of Fall Gold).
Another raspberry that we planted last year was Glencoe a purple raspberry which is quite unusual as it grows more like a blackberry than a raspberry. You only need one plant as it forms a clump of long vigorous stems. It produced lots of fruit over a long period of time last year.

When the new canes arrived just as this year the conditions were not really good enough for planting and so they were healed into a large pot and kept in the garden greenhouse away from the worst of the weather.

The Glen Ample raspberries in spite of being new produced a reasonable amount of really delicious berries and the Glen Magna although not as good as Ample grew well and also produced a small crop. That left the Glen Moy canes which were a disaster – not one grew.

Glencoe was cut back in the same way as the summer fruiting varieties but the new canes were so long that they needed to be supported.

So here’s hoping for a good crop of multi coloured raspberries this season. Can’t wait!

If you are interested I’ve written more about how we prune our raspberries here
We had bought the canes from Keepers and so I emailed them to ask if we had done anything wrong when planting them and received a reply saying that the very bad weather had caused quite a lot of casualties and that if I let them know how many and which variety of plant had died they would replace them at an appropriate time. This wouldn’t be until the next growing season.


Anyway true to their word last month a couple of bundles of replacement canes arrived. One bundle of Glen Moy and a couple of Glen Magna canes. Just as last year the conditions are too wet to plant so hopefully this batch will survive in the greenhouse. They have been heeled in, in a large pot of compost – the method which worked for the other varieties last year.
Must say yet another supplier who has offered good service! Surely our luck can’t hold out for much longer!
We are hoping for a really good crop from the raspberries that were planted and survived last year. They sent up some strong new canes. As these varieties fruit on the season before’s canes all the old canes that had fruited were cut down to the ground.
The autumn fruiting All Gold are a different proposition as they fruit of the same year’s canes and so once the weather bucks up all the canes will be cut down to ground level. This year I really do need to thin out the new canes as a raspberry thicket is forming.





Update on Nest Box cam: Most days blue tits continue to give the nest box a thorough looking over but as yet no signs of moving in - latest images etc can be viewed from the Bird Box Cam link on the sidebar.

21 comments:

  1. Looking forward to see your raspberries fruiting. I cannot plant this berry because I won't be able to harvest them as we might be moving.Maybe someday I will have the chance.

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  2. We're not big on raspberries in our house, there's only my hubby who really likes them. I like the sound of Glencoe, only needing one plant. I might look in to getting one of those as that would probably be all we need to satisfy hubby's needs.

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  3. Topical post! I pruned my autumn fruiting raspberries yesterday. We also grow tayberries which taste fabulous though they are rather pippy. I solved this last year by making Tayberry jelly - brilliant.

    I think many compnies now realise that with the internet we have so much choice that they need to offer good service.

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  4. I prefer Raspberries to all other soft fruit. They have so much more flavour. In my little plot I only have room for a few canes, so we never get to freeze any. Mine are the allegedly Autumn-fruiting variety "Autumn Bliss", but I find they actually begin fruiting well before Autumn arrives. They are a mix of some canes given to me by a friend and a batch bought from a Garden Centre, along with progeny from both lots! I have re-planted several of the suckers, and they have done pretty well.

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  5. Yummy. I've just rescued three more raspberry canes from the back corner of my plot, no idea what they are. I also learnt that, had I waited, I could have had as many "Autumn Bliss" plants as I wanted, they are gradually taking over the plot next to mine and of course now I don't have any room for them! Ah well... Look forward to hearing which raspberries you rate the highest this year. Impressive supplier bahviour.

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  6. Will you be staying in Australia Diana?

    Is it the taste or the seeds that turn you off Jo.

    We have a tayberry too VH and a blackberry and now a Japanese wineberry. We freeze lots of berries either raw or as a sort of coulis to have with porridge or yoghurt. Raspberries are great for freezing.

    I love raspberries too Mark our autumn fruiters start cropping the back end of August wgich overlapped with the summer fruiters.

    The one that we found had most falvour last year was Glen Ample which had very large firm fruits but all the cames were fairly new so some may produce even better this year. We were pleased with the supplier - just emailed to see what they had to say really - just shows that it's worth it!

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  7. Great photos!! I'm so glad you posted on this, because I really want to plant some raspberries this year! But where to put them.. hmmm.. do we really need lawn?!? :)

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  8. I have never eaten a yellow or purple raspberry, only red raspberries. That's great that the supplier sent you the replacements from last year!

    I ordered a red raspberry variety called Heritage before I found some at the plots. It will be interesting to see what type of raspberries and blackberries are already growing there.

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  9. Ohhh! Now I want some raspberries! AND i have just the spot. Do you think the chickens would like them / destroy them? hmmm. I wonder if there are any online suppliers in Australia? I love the look of the yellow ones!

    My mum grows boysenberries and they are so fat and juicy, but the plant to fruit ratio it too high. I wonder if there is too much nitrogen in the bed...

    Gosh GLA, now my head is swimming with raspberries!

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  10. I've been surprised at my lack of success with raspberries. I am used to my father's raspberries which just grow, year after year, with bumper crops. We have had two varieties of cane fail completely, and the remaining one is hardly producing anything. I am going to give it one more year in its current location and then start a new raspberry bed in a different part of the plot.

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  11. I don't mind the seeds, it's the taste, though I don't mind other things which are raspberry flavoured, yoghurts etc. so I don't really know. I could eat them if I had to, just not one of my favourites.

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  12. The ultimate question, Nikki do you sacrifice the lawn? Personally I like a lawn to set off the garden but it doesn't have to be very big.

    It will be interesting to see what is already there Robin - preferably with labels still attached but that is a tall order!

    I've never tasted a boysenberry, Phoebe does she prune it?

    I'm surprised too Linda as most of our varieties come from Scotland!

    Strange thing taste, Jo one man's meat etc!

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  13. I was given four raspberry canes when I first got my plot three years ago and they have now multiplied to make a nice barrier across my plot acting as a great divider fence. i have no idea what they are called or whether they are summer or autumn ones. They start to produce very early on in the season and continue until the cold weather arrives. i cut these back to the ground at the end of every season and this has worked really well with them. Any ideas on variety?? Maybe I could take some pics and show you later in the year.

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    Replies
    1. Whatever these 'Early till Late' fruiters are you're on a winner here! Will you sell (or swap) me a couple please? I have Loch Tay blackberry layerings to offer.

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    2. Hi Windyplots you are most welcome. Maybe you should contact Tanya on her blog if you are serious that is? Click on her link

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  14. It's hard to tell what variety they are Tanya. If you cut them right down to the ground each year after fruiting they must fruit on the same season's canes which is surprising for an early fruiting variety as they usually fruit on last season's cane. If that was the caes then cutting them all down to the ground each year should stop them fruiting. If however yours are autumn fruiting then they shouldn't have fruit so early! How early do you mean? A bit of a conundrum!

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  15. I really can't remember but it was definitely may time at the latest...but not sure where abouts in the month...will keep a better record and blog it this year as I am now intrigued!!

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  16. I adore raspberries. No idea what ours are as I inherited them and they are quite an age now. I'm reluctant to start 'faffing' with them as they've always done very well with little intervention from us. Just the pruning really.
    A couple of years ago we found we have a Loganberry. It fruited well last year but got tangled up with bramble so we've freed it for this year. Mo

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  17. So am I Tanya!
    If I had any fruiting well I'd leave them be too Mo whatever the variety - doesn't matter if they are good.

    We hover between thinking we have a loganberry or a tayberry but are now on the tayberry side. We prune ours the same as the blackberry cut out all fruiting canes or they end up a mess.

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  18. oh yes! - I love raspberries we still have some in the freezer - yum :) wishing all the berry best (did you see what i did there - gosh I am hilarious today) xxx

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  19. I love them too Carrie berry much!

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