Practical Gardening
RASPBERRIES, along with strawberries, are the epitome of what a summer fruit should be. Soft, juicy, sweet and luscious. There are two types of raspberry, summer fruiting and autumn fruiting. A combination of planting both types can provide fresh fruit from July until October. Even a few plants can keep you supplied for a few weeks and raspberries can also sucessfully be grown in pot and containers. Not only are raspberries used for their fruit but their dried leaves have been used as hot drink infusions for centuries.
Raspberries are part of the rose family, rosaceae, as are strawberries. A close look at their flowers shows a similarity to single flowered dog roses. They are closely related to the blackberry even sharing the same species name; Rubus. There are different selected named varieties for summer and autumn fruiting plants. The summer fruiting Malling Jewel is an old variety that is still hard to beat to be honest but Malling Leo and Glen Ample are also good examples. Autumn Bliss is the most popular autumn fruiting type and Falls Gold is an unusual yellow fruiting autumn variety.
The two fruiting classes require different pruning methods. Summer fruiting types should be cut back to the ground, completely to the ground no stubs, after harvesting. That should be by or around now. There will be new growth showing already on these plants so you need to select the strongest six to eight stems and remove the rest. These newly kept stems are best tied in to or given a support to grow into. These stems or canes will fruit next summer.
Autumn fruiting varieties , these will be fruiting now, should be cut back to the ground in February. When the new growth appears during spring again select the strongest six to eight stems and remove the rest. These stems will fruit the same year. During summer you may have to