Raspberries: The easiest fruit you will ever grow.

Ok, I am not sure about that yet but supposedly you can try and kill them and they will still come back. In some areas of the US they are considered a menace they spread so much. I found one website that told me NEVER fertilize them. You don't want to encourage them.

This is a fantastic situation. Raspberries are delicate and terrible shippers. Half the time you buy them and they are almost inedible or start growing fuzz within a day or two. Not the sort of longevity I want to see on something I just spent 2.99 for. Add to the insults of only getting 6 ounces for that price making raspberries one of the most expensive things I buy, per pound. Blueberries are up there but not as easy to grow.

So what you need to know about raspberries. Raspberries come in four different types, red, black, yellow and purple. I think the yellow is derived from the red. My kids love my yellow the best, I have Fall Gold, because they are so sweet. As it happily turns out Fall Gold are ever-bearing. Bonus. I didn't know that before I started writing this. So thanks. Don't plant your black and purple near your red and yellow. Supposedly there are diseases the reds may carry but are resistant to that the black and purple can't handle. I think 500 feet was the recommended distance. I have a Jewel on order so it will go in the side yard.

The canes are biennial. The first year cane is nice and green and called a primocane. This doesn't produce fruit unless it is ever-bearing. Ever-bearing produces a crop in the fall on the primocane at the top and you get a second crop the next summer on the bottom 2/3 of the cane. So know what you have before you cut the canes down. Your second year cane is called the floricane, and will produce the fruit for you. It is pretty easy to see what is a primocane and a floracane.

The primocane is green and on the left and the floricane is brown and on the right. This one is a little confusing but I imagine I will just trim the brown wood back to the junction with the primocane. Anyone know if this is correct? I don't know what kind of raspberry this is because I got it off freecycle so I might just let it wait and see what happens.

The roots are perennial. So they will multiply like rabbits. Supposedly. I have to wait until next year to see how we do.

Here is my current raspberry patch. It was just planted in July, I had mono and missed out on early planting. But everything lived so all good.

In this patch I have Heritage, unknown and Killarney. I keep my reds together. 

This is my little patch. I made the simple trellis by splitting a 2x4 with a radial arm saw. Ok, my husband did it, thanks dear. Pounded many many times into the ground and just attached some string. Great thing is that if this doesn't work I can always turn it into a T type trellis with nominal effort. This bed was slated for patio pavers until I learned that raspberries will tolerate partial shade. This used to be all weeds. This bed is in the corner of our house and it was scary. No one walked back there. I wish I took a picture. It had one huge hosta in the back. Tons of daisies, three day lilies and weeds. SO SO SO many weeds. And grass. No one can really see this bed so why spend the effort? I am still fighting the weeds but I put in a little stepping stone walkway and a bigger trellis for grapes and blackberries. The kids love the walkway. They skip all around it and it makes it easier to separate the plants and collect the berries. I waited until the fake flagstone was one sale for 99 cents at Menards. So the path cost me 35 bucks to make. Here is the full bed. Kind of looks like a pitchfork.

To the left of the green downspout is another strawberry patch. Going right are two blackberries and some grapes on the trellis. In the middle is my Fall Gold raspberry and on the right are my raspberry bushes with the trellis. In front is some crazy basil I planted. I will probably put some herbs in there next year towards the front since that gets more sun.

The sad news. Of course there has to be some. Raspberries aren't that pretty. Most have thorns. They get kind of scraggly and unattractive looking so I use them in the back of the house. The Fall Gold looks more like a bush so I am going to wait and see on that one but I am going to try prettier things in the front. They also require a bunch of pruning so it is better to put them in a row so you can have access to them.

These are my kids favorite plants. We go outside every day and look for berries. I cant' wait to see what they do next year!