Rubus idaeus
Raspberry
At a glance
- Light
- Partial shade
- Hardiness
- Hardy down to −20 °C
- Harvest
- Jun–Oct
- Spacing
- 50 cm, rows 150 cm
- Water need
- Medium
- Origin
- Native to Germany
Photo: Didier Descouens · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source
Description
The raspberry belongs in every garden for nibbling and bears in summer or into autumn, depending on the cultivar. Summer raspberries such as ‘Glen Ample’ bear on two-year-old canes, autumn raspberries such as ‘Autumn Bliss’ on one-year-old ones. The latter are easier to care for, because you can simply cut them back completely.
Care instructions
Plant it in autumn (October, week 43) against a sunny trellis in humus-rich, well-drained soil. With autumn raspberries cut all canes down to the ground in winter (February, week 7); with summer raspberries you remove only the spent ones. Mulch generously and water in dry spells, because the shallow roots dry out quickly.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
HarvestJun–Oct
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
humus-rich, loamy, well-drained, moist, lime-avoiding
Your soil should be deep, loose and humus-rich and stay evenly moist. Raspberries are shallow-rooted and tolerate neither waterlogging nor drying out. Avoid lime-rich soils: above about pH 7 the plant can hardly take up iron and manganese any more and chlorosis threatens; a slightly acidic soil (pH 5.5 to 6.5) is ideal. Mulch the rows with bark mulch or lawn clippings, which holds moisture and suppresses weeds.
Feeding
Heavy feeder
Months
Mar, Apr, Sep, Oct
In spring before growth starts (March/April), work mature compost shallowly around the canes and additionally sprinkle horn shavings on the surface, so that the nitrogen is released slowly over the season. After harvest (September/October), give a second organic dressing of compost, so that the canes build up strength for the next year. Do not feed heavily with nitrogen in late summer, otherwise the canes ripen poorly and freeze back in winter.
Overwintering
Your raspberry is fully hardy and needs no frost protection in the bed; what matters is pruning that suits the variety. Summer raspberries: after harvest, cut the spent two-year-old canes out close to the ground and leave the young canes standing; autumn raspberries: cut all canes back close to the ground in late winter. Only raspberries in containers need site protection against a sheltered house wall with a fleece wrapping, so that the roots do not freeze through.
Propagation
Methods
- Runners
- Cuttings
- Layering
The simplest and most reliable method is propagation by root suckers: in early autumn after leaf fall, or alternatively in early spring, look for strong, young suckers that are about 20 to 40 cm tall and growing roughly 50 cm from the mother plant. Dig them up carefully, sever the underground connection to the mother plant with a sharp spade and plant the young plants straight away in their new spot. Autumn transplanting is favourable, as the plants root in over winter and start more vigorously in spring; suckers moved in spring are best dug up when they are about 15 to 20 cm tall.
For cuttings you have two options: softwood cuttings you cut in early summer, pencil-length pieces of shoot with one to two leaves at the top, and insert upright in seed compost. Hardwood cuttings (woody cuttings), on the other hand, you cut in autumn from the harvested canes; make sure that each piece, about 15 cm long, ends with a bud at the top and at the bottom. Store the bundles over winter in moist substrate in a cool, shady place and pot them up in seed compost in spring at the latest, as soon as they have formed fine roots. For modern varieties that form hardly any suckers, root cuttings are also an option: in autumn or late winter dig up sections of root, cut them into pieces about 10 cm long and lay them flat in moist seed compost.
Layering works particularly well with black raspberries and crosses, but is also possible with red varieties: in early autumn, bend a long, pliable young cane in an arch to the ground and bury the tip of the shoot about 5 to 10 cm deep in loose soil; weigh the spot down with a stone if needed. Once the tip of the shoot has formed a root system of its own, the following spring you cut the connection to the mother plant and dig up the new plant with about 15 cm of the old cane.
Sowing is not worthwhile in a home garden: cultivated varieties do not come true to variety from seed, and germination is lengthy.
Companion planting
Good neighbors
amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae)
You can plant garlic and chives under strawberries and roses; their scent repels aphids and other pests.
For example OnionLeekChivesWild daffodilRocamboleElephant garlic and 11 more species in the catalogue
Source: Bio-Gärtnerei Mixed Culture Practice
Rather not
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
Some of these explanations were machine-translated.
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Varieties
8 varieties‘Autumn Bliss’
The variety ‚Autumn Bliss’ that brought the breakthrough of autumn raspberries and remains a benchmark today.
‘Glen Ample’
A high-yielding summer raspberry, which is especially pleasant to harvest because of its thornless canes.
‘Golden Queen’
You will discover ‚Golden Queen’, a yellow-fruited summer raspberry with a long history, distinguished by its exceptionally mild sweetness.
‘Himbo Top’
A vigorous Swiss autumn raspberry prized for its particularly large fruits and its tolerance of root rot.
‘Meeker’
A high yielding summer raspberry that was the commercial standard for a long time and delivers reliably in the home garden too.
‘Polka’
A modern Polish autumn raspberry that starts earlier than older varieties and delivers large, firm fruits over many weeks.
‘Schönemann’
A proven German summer raspberry from the middle of the last century that bears late and over a long period.
‘Tulameen’
For many the best tasting summer raspberry of all, and therefore a rewarding way to start your row.
Notes from real gardens
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From the magazine
Tayberry and loganberry: two blackberry-raspberry crosses
Tayberry and loganberry combine the robustness of the blackberry and the aroma of the raspberry. How to plant, support and prune the two Rubus hybrids.
Raspberries: Varieties, Pruning, and the Whole Business with Suckers
Summer or autumn raspberry, which variety suits you, when to prune, and how to tame those wandering root suckers: the complete guide to growing raspberries in your own garden.
Berries in pots and on the balcony: almost any berry in a container
Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries: almost any berry thrives in a pot. How to choose substrate and pot size, water lime-free and protect the roots in winter.
Fertilising berries correctly: no feeding by one measure
You do not fertilise all berries the same. Acid-lovers like blueberries tolerate no lime, currants and gooseberries are potassium-hungry, raspberries undemanding. Here is how to sort your berries into a few groups and give each the right thing.
Berry pruning calendar through the year: which bush when
Every berry has its own pruning time. Bushes like currant and gooseberry in winter, cane berries like raspberry and blackberry after harvest. Your pruning plan for the whole berry garden, with the one rule of thumb that always holds.
Where to get this plant
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