Out with the old and in with the new

We thought the Glencoe raspberry was going to provide us with lots of fruit this year - we were wrong! To start with it was full of promise.

In the end though we only managed a few berries. Fruiting was over really quickly.

The Tayberry on the other hand provided us and the blackbirds with a steady supply of fruit. From the last third of June and throughout July we picked berries on every plot visit - much to the disgust of the blackbird who tutted at us whenever we picked. 

The tayberry was inherited when we took over the plot and so is a fairly 'ancient' specimen but it produces consistently without any cosseting or feeding from us.

Each year it sends up many new canes which I thin out a little as they are produced. Once the fruiting is over it is time to give the tayberry more serious attention.  All the canes produced last year which have fruited this year are cut out completely. The thorny canes are really long and entangled so the easiest/safest way to deal with them is to cut them out in pieces and remove them bit by bit.

This done the remaining newly produced canes are thinned out again and the survivors tied into the supporting fence. (It is is now debatable whether it is the fence that is supporting the tayberry or the tayberry that is supporting the fence).

The resulting arrangement isn't pretty but the look will improve as the canes produce more side shoots and leaves.

Unlike other raspberries Glencoe also produces clumps of long whippy canes. It also produces fruit on the previous year's canes and so has been given a similar treatment. Old canes have been removed completely but, as it is less prolific in new cane production, all the new canes have been tied in to the supporting wires.  

We didn't expect the newly planted raspberries to produce any fruit this year but we have managed a small trickle of fruits. The plants are producing strong new canes albeit rather shorter than expected  - maybe down to the dry weather. The new canes have been tied to wires and any old growth will be removed.

The other fruiting plant that needs a similar pruning regime is the blackberry. Happily this year I only have the thornless blackberry to deal with. It's so much easier and less fraught to train than the super vigorous plant with deadly thorns, so much so that we are seriously thinking of removing the thorny one altogether. Last year it was cut back completely and is currently regrowing.

Our thornless blackberry is trained along three wires - the new canes have been trained as they were produced whilst still pliable The canes that have produced fruit this year will be cut out once fruiting is finished.

Not only is this plant more benign than its vicious relative but it also produces lovely large berries.

Thank you Tanya for recommending of Loch Ness - our thornless variety. We are thinking of planting a second plant if we can decide where we could fit one in.

Thank you again to everyone who has voted for my blog since my last thank you. Voting closes either tonight or tomorrow - not sure which. Currently my blog is second with some excellent blogs snapping at my heels. It's better than I anticipated so you have certainly spared my blushes.

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