Pruning Raspberries

Well the knee is still keeping me indoors. The worst thing I can do is put pressure on it so no lifting and definitely no digging. In the words of the song, "you don't know what you've got till it's gone".

Val went out to harvest a few potatoes and carrots the other day. Unfortunately, due to communication error on my part, she dug up a couple of main crop plants rather than the first earlies. It seems we will have quite a few potatoes for the space but currently the main crops are about golf ball size. The first earlies are larger.

Carrots are doing well and we've had a couple of meals from the young thinnings so far. It's so nice to actually eat your own fresh vegetables.

So in the absence of anything else to report, I thought I'd answer an email question. Hopefully this will help others as well

Raspberries

"This is the first time I have grown raspberries and I am  unsure what to do with them through the winter months. They have grown really tall. Have you any ideas?"

Raspberries need pruning, usually in November, but there are two types of raspberry that require different treatments. Those that fruit in the summer and the autumn fruiting varieties.

Autumn Fruiting Raspberries

The autumn varieties fruit from late August / early September until the first frosts. They're not as productive as the summer types but you do get a late crop of fresh raspberries.  They bear the fruit on the tips of this year's canes so, once they have fruited and frosts arrived, cut the canes down to ground level.

Tidy up, clearing the old canes and leaves, remove any weeds and then mulch with compost and that's it until spring.

Summer Fruiting Raspberries

These fruit heavily over a short period in July and August on canes from the previous year so pruning is a little more complex. After they've fruited, cut down the canes that have fruited to ground level and tie in the young canes to the wire. Some people say as little as three shoots per plant and others as many as nine. I split the difference and aim for six healthy shoots, cutting the weaklings down to the ground.

Once again a mulch for the winter. In February, trim any tall canes back to the height of the top wire (about six feet).

With both types of raspberry, a couple of ounces per yard run of fish, blood and bone in the spring along with some extra potash in the form of wood ashes or sulphate of potash will ensure a good crop later on.