Raspberries....

One of my goals is to be able to produce enough berries to eliminate the need to buy them from the grocery store during the spring, summer and fall. I usually buy some sort of berries on a weekly basis.  So this way if I grew them at home I wouldn't have to worry about  ... whether I should pay double to get the organic ones ... will we be able to finish a huge container before they go bad... none of that.

Slowly but surely I am getting there. Both of my kids like raspberries and strawberries (only one likes blueberries but I am hoping to change that).

The raspberries were definitely a success this year. I have two relatively small sections of raspberries and these days I am getting probably at least 6 oz of berries every other day, often much more than that. (the picture below is a good 12 oz at least. )

Yellow Golden Ann
 One section is Yellow Golden Ann Raspberries, these do so well in my yard. Last year I planted 2 plants/canes and this year I have more than a dozen (I actually had more but was giving these away early in the summer). The first year fruit on these were really quite good.  If they are not fully ripe they are a bit tart, otherwise they have a great flavor... some say with a hint of banana. My son loves these (he tolerates a bit more tartness than my daughter). 

Red Heritage
My second section of raspberries are heritage. These are the type of raspberries that you commonly find in the local u pick fields. I have to say that my first year heritage berries did not have that great of a taste. They were fairly bland. So when this patch started shading out my strawberries I did not hesitate to chop these guys fairly low to the ground. I let one grow completely and realized the error of my ways. These berries were DELICIOUS! Both my kids were fighting for the red berries. Lesson learned "don't judge a berry by the first year fruit".  To add salt to the wound the deer came around and ate my strawberry plants so we didn't even get any strawberries (needless to say the strawberries are getting moved to a more protected area).

Raspberry culture
These plants are similar to strawberries in that they grow like WEEDS.  Just one plant will give you at least 6 the following year. I learned I really need to give them room. The key to weeding them is to find the "last plant" on the root and start pulling from that end. It is a very cost effective plant. If anyone is local and wants to try their hand at these let me know, I am always weeding these. Not all of them survive, I've had some of my transplants die and some tell me that the roots took and they are growing properly. I haven't quite figured the key to successfull transplanting yet.

They also grow tall and thin so they need some sort of support. I made makeshift supports this year but I really need to figure out something better for them next year.

Feeding/Fertilizer
I must say that I don't give these guys much by way of any sort of fertilizer. I gave them two boosts of liquid fish/seaweed spray but I probably didn't even need to do that. I give them very thick heavy layers of mulch in the fall (wood chips and/or fall leaves) and compost when I can spare it. Also when they started to flower I would throw my banana peels at the base of the plants for added potassium. Otherwise these are very "easy" plants.

Pruning
Ok so when it comes to raspberries pruning can be a bit complicated. Luckily these two varieties are really easy when it comes to pruning.

 I waited till the spring for the first pruning(usually when I see the new canes emerging from the ground).  I COMPLETELY cut last years canes down to the ground (real easy no primocane/floricane nonsense). I read somewhere not to cut them in the fall when they are done because the roots draw some nutrition from the dormant cane during the winter.

Second  pruning I did for the Golden Ann's. When the new canes are 30-36 inches high I cut the tops off the plants ( I think this will work for the heritage as well but haven't tried it yet).  When I did this the cane started to branch into two which was great because I then got 2 fruiting ends instead of just one.