The Garden Guru

Got a problem in your plot? Let our Garden Guru Martyn Cox help you out

QI bought some raspberry ‘Ruby Beauty’ a couple of years ago. The first year we got a profusion of small canes and three miniature fruits. That autumn I cut all the canes to ground level. This year we got a lot of canes but not even flowers, let alone fruit.

Terry Baldwin

ARaspberry ‘Ruby Beauty’ is a patio variety that produces fruit on two-yearold stems. Don’t prune the stems this autumn and the plant should bear fruit next summer. It doesn’t require all the stems cutting back either. Next autumn, only cut back stems that carried fruit.

QI have some seeds that have passed their sell-by date. Will they germinate?

AIf the seeds have been kept in a cool, dry place they should be OK, especially if they are only a little out of date.

Marcus Ford