Growing raspberries is a lot easier than you may think. With just a little TLC each year, you should be able to enjoy lots of these beautiful fruits. What’s more if you think ahead to the varieties you might want to grow, you could have fruit right through the summer into autumn, as you can have summer and autumn fruiting canes.
Growing Raspberries
Raspberries are grown on what is known as canes. These are upright woody plants. A single raspberry cane can produce fruit for around 12 years, if not more.
How To Grow Raspberries.
You’ll need to pop to the garden centre or have a look online and buy yourself some raspberry canes.
Raspberries like moist, well-drained, fertile soil. You’ll need to think about the best position for growing raspberries, as the branches can get quite long and you won’t want them to break in the wind. They are pollinated by insects, so you’ll want a sheltered site for the insects to be able to get to them easily.
When thinking about how to grow raspberries and how to get started, it’s best to weed the area you have chosen first, as weeding around raspberry canes becomes quite difficult once they start growing.
How To Plant Raspberry Canes
When looking planting raspberry canes, it’s best to position them about 45cm apart with about 1.8m between the rows. Raspberry canes can be planted any time during their dormant season. Between November and March is best, although make sure the ground you are planting them in isn’t frozen or waterlogged.
Before planting, soak the roots first and once planted, cover the roots with about 5cm of soil. Firm down and then water well.
If you are growing summer-fruiting raspberries, you’ll need to tie them in for support. Autumn fruiting varieites don’t need this. If you are planting in a garden, you could use wires along a fence to help support your raspberry canes. Tie them in a regular intervals to support them from breaking or getting too unruly.
How Many Raspberry Canes Do I Need?
How many raspberry canes you need will depend on how much space you have in your garden and how much fruit you want? A single raspberry cane may produce a few punnets of fruit. For larger quantities, perhaps for regular eating or for jam making, you may want to think about a few more, perhaps 10 or 15 canes. If you do only have a small space, don’t forget as they are self-fertilising, you can just plant a single cane.
How To Care For Raspberries
In Spring, you should feed the raspberries regularly and keep the soil weed free. You’ll need to make sure the canes are well-watered during dry periods. You can pick the fruit as it ripens and becomes ready to eat. Make sure you get there first, before the birds!
You can also net your raspberry canes, as this will help to stop the birds pinching your fruit.
Cutting Back Raspberry Canes
After the harvest, you can cut back the canes for the following year. If you have summer fruiting raspberries, you should only cut back the canes that have produced fruit. Where there are new canes which haven’t fruited, you should tie them along your wire supports for next year. Autumn fruiting varieties can be cut back completely.
So there you have it. Lots of lovely tips on growing Raspberries and how to plant raspberry canes. Are these going to be the fruits you plant this year? Have you had success with planting raspberries canes?
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