My Tiny PlotRaspberry Canes
The raspberry canes arrived at last (10 Autumn Bliss and 3 free ones from Grow Your Own Magazine). I must admit I was beginning to give up on them and preparing to write a stern letter but then, as if by magic, they appeared. I put them straight in, in one row roughly 60cm apart. Now they’re all holed up in their new home and settling in nicely ready to fill my freezer with yummy fruit next Autumn. I also made a literary purchase this week, Delia’s Kitchen Garden. I couldn’t resist. It was on eBay and I won it for a very stingy £8.50 (normal price £20). It’s a great book, full of the usual Delia-style recipes, gorgeous photos and a month by month gardening calendar. To be honest I know most of the gardening advice already (me being the next Monty in waiting and all…) but it’s still great to have something new to read during these long winter months.
Planting raspberries is one of the best investments you can make, you’ll never regret it (and Delia’s book at 8 quid isn’t bad either). Nice work all round. :O)
Blimey, you look rather glam when you’re down on the allotment: I look like a scarecrow in my hideous padded shirt and Luton Town FC woolly hat! Dan’s right about the raspberries though. Mmmm, raspberries …
Very true on the raspberry front – my folks are still growing some taken from my gran’s plot in the house I now live in. They’ve long since gone but there are still some growing wild here and there despite my 11 years of neglect :-)
Nice hat, by the way ;-)
ha ha…! the glam look is not intentional, I have to fit gardening in around working so I leave the office in whatever I’m wearing, shove the wellies on and don my pink hat. I’ve had a few funny looks!
Hiya, I have just acquired my allotment in the very small town that I live in and I want to grow soft fruits and rhubarb. I have been surfing the net for bargains, but all soft fruit seems expensive. Do you have any suggestions for sites I could visit that wont bankrupt me? I love your hat too – very glam!
Chezza – try http://www.blackmoor.co.uk for very reasonably priced fruit bushes.
Their raspberry canes are half the price of some sites! Good luck.
i’m growing raspberries for the first time and am confused! I was given four pots and each one contained a plant of 4 or 5 canes tied together. The label said to plant without disturbing the root ball so I planted each pot as one plant. I feel that I have done it wrong. Should I go back to the allotment and split them into individual canes.
I am in the same situation – one ball of soil etc with 10 canes – do I plant them all together without disturbing the ball or split them up into 10 separate plantings? Help please!
Hi Nicky and Will – Raspberries are pretty tough and will do well in most situations. However, one of the things that raspberries do need is air circulation to avoid fungal diseases. I’m no Raspberry expert but I split up my canes in order to give them as much room to grow as possible. I wanted a lovely, long row of Raspberries with lots of air circulating around them.
However, I have heard of people growing Raspberries in pots (several canes in one pot) and also 10 or 12 canes around a single support. So, I would split them up and plant each cane but if you want to do it another way then give it a go.
I have a pot that is about 30″ and 18″ deep. How many Raspberry plants could I get in a pot of that size, and would it want any speical looking after.
Thanks a lot
In answer to the question about cheap soft fruit I was in Aldi last week and bought 4 Red Goosberry. 2 Blueberry and 2 Fig trees all for £1.99 each, they are all in and looking well. They are not in all the Aldi stores but you could ring and check before making the journey.