MORE GARDENING:
NIGEL COLBORN’S ESSENTIAL JOBS FOR YOUR GARDEN THIS WEEK
Early summer raspberry varieties will be soon coming to the end of their fruiting period. The exhausted canes will not produce again and can be removed. Work along the rows, cutting all spent canes at ground level.
Take care not to damage any new shoots that might be emerging from the bases of the plants. Next summer, they will produce a new crop.
If the ground is dry, mulch the rows with lawn mowings or compost to conserve moisture. This treatment applies only to early or summer-fruiting raspberries.
These produce their crop on canes that grew from the ground the previous summer, but which will not have flowered until this year. autumn raspberries are different and should not be pruned now. Their fruits ripen between mid-august and October and are produced on canes which have grown up from the ground this year. Take great care not to damage them.
autumn raspberry canes are routinely cut back in January. at that time, all growth — whether it has borne fruit or not — should be cut back. New crop-bearing shoots will then emerge during late winter and spring.
you’ll notice that autumn raspberry canes tend to produce fruits near their tips, so never shorten them, even if they have grown tall.
If necessary, you can support tall canes by tying them gently to horizontal wires stretched between strong posts.