Don't blow the raspberries

Last December we planted a row of new raspberries - described in Martyn's blog here - to replace a row of canes that unexpectedly all died. 

We originally had three varieties - late fruiting Glen Magna, mid season Glen Ample and early fruiting Glen Moy. The early variety never really did well for us both in terms of fruit production and cane growth so we decided to replace the canes with just two varieties. We stuck with Glen Ample but decided for a change of late variety and chose Tulameen. (Interestingly both Martyn and I came up with Tulameen independently after researching the varieties on offer).

The new canes have all taken and are growing well. As they had been cut down before shipping and as summer fruiting raspberries grow on wood produced in the previous year we didn't expect any fruit at all this season but we are picking a smattering. The important thing is that they look to be producing some good growth which will hopefully give us fruit next year.

I'll completely cut out the canes that were produced last year after we finish picking our expected meagre supply of berries.

We have two varieties of late autumn fruiting raspberries - All Gold a yellow variety and Joan J.  These are fairly old plants that have been producing fruit for a fair number of years. Autumn fruiting varieties produce fruits on new canes but will also produce some earlier fruit on last year's canes. For this reason some people cut out only half the old canes in early spring leaving the rest to fruit before cutting them out completely. We have already picked one or two fruits from bits of old canes that had been accidentally missed when cutting back this year.

This way gardeners get two bites of the raspberry as, in late summer/early autumn, a second crop of fruit is produced on the new canes. Seeing as we grow summer raspberries I prefer to keep things simple and cut all the previous seasons growth to the ground in early spring. I could do it earlier but I think the old canes give a bit of frost protection to the roots. They probably don't need it but I like to play safe. At this point I also tidy up the beds as they become fairly weedy over the year

The new canes soon grow and produce quite a dense thicket of canes which I like to thin out. I take out any spindly weak looking canes and thin out any that are growing very closely together.

All Gold before and after

Joan J before and after

The before and after photos maybe don't look different but they certainly do when your head is stuck under the leaves.

An added problem with our Joan J is that there is a bindweed problem in that area and so I have to spend a bit of time freeing the canes for the bindweed's stranglehold. I actually removed about two barrow-loads of the stuff which will no doubt regrow as some of the roots are entangled amongst the raspberry roots and impossible to remove.

Our third type of raspberry is Glencoe which grows entirely differently. We planted just one plant which has now formed quite a large clump. It grows in a similar way to tayberries and blackberries. It fruits on the previous years' canes, (Like blackberries I guess it would also fruit on old canes too if these were left to grow but then the plant would get out of control). I prefer to cut out all the fruited canes when they have finished producing.

In the photos above you can see some very tall upright canes - they grow up to 2½ metres/ 8 feet tall - these are the canes produced this tear. As you can imagine left to its own devices Glencoe would, like a blackberry, become rampant especially as, like a blackberry, where the tip of the cane meets the soil it roots. Thankfully the canes are thornless which makes pruning painless.

Rather than shortening the canes as I have read some people do I bend them over and train them on wires. 

This is also supposed to promote better fruiting. Whether this is correct or not we certainly gather a good harvest; last year we picked just over 2.6 kg of fruit. The purple fruits are smaller than 'normal' raspberries but have a good flavour. We have just picked our first lot of berries from the sunny side of the plant. The shadier side is a little slower to produce ripe fruits and so in a way extends the season. Last year we picked fruit on every visit to the plot over a two month period and what's more the bees can't get enough of the flowers.

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett