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We agree with Gene Logsdon’s 1974 coment that the raspberry is “the proverbial ‘pearl without price.’ It is easier, in most sections of this country, to buy a Rolls-Royce than a fresh raspberry. Raspberries just ain’t for sale
regularly except in places like …or in classy gourmet shops where you may pay as much as $1.25 a half pint for them.” (Successful Berry Growing) |
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It is still true that locally grown raspberries are as rare as hens’ teeth. “Fresh” raspberries can now be had in the large food chains much of the time, but when Tumbledown was eating his plump picked-just-for-breakfast raspberries on cereal in June to mid-July 2006, Indianapolis area markets were selling their shrunken shriveled counterparts for $2.99 a half pint.
Logsdon is probably right that the reason for the lack of fresh berries in the market is “Grandfather’s old harangue” that “nobody wants to work any more.”
But Tumbledown’s experience is that the
raspberry is hardly any trouble at all, especially considering the
reward. No berry
offers the absolute explosion of sweet tartness that a raspberry does. The
raspberry crams a concentration of summer goodness into a tiny package
to produce an intensity of flavor that is unmatched among berries.
Purple and Black Raspberries
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[Photo: red raspberries]
The green canes are canes that will bear in the fall (and next spring). The brown canes were green last year and have just finished bearing their second crop this spring. They brown canes are dying or already dead and must be removed. Red and yellow raspberries reproduce by sending new (green) canes up from their roots.
Tumbledown grows only the “fall
bearing” red varieties today, so his growing advice is
focused on those. (NOTE:
“fall bearing” is a misnomer: they bear twice, once
in the fall and once again in the spring.)
(The
Latham were purchased on a whim for $1 “clearance”
in early
summer from a chain home improvement store, already mostly dead, and
planted at the wrong time of year to survive.
They
survived marvelously; in fact their survival rate has been better than
the mail order raspberries bought from reputable catalog sources and
planted immediately upon arrival in the spring.
Go figure.)
Nurseries often instruct growers to dig a hole for planting, but fail to mention that the ground in which raspberries are planted should be well prepared ahead of time. Tumbledown knows from experience how many plants die (1/2 at least) when raspberries are plopped into a soggy hole fresh dug upon the arrival of the new plants. This happens no matter how good the dirt with which you fill the hole (even “premium,” “store bought” garden soil or potting mix).
Prepare the ground ahead of time, a year ahead would be best for ground that has never been worked. Avoid planting where tomatoes or potatoes have been grown (or at least delay until you have completed a 3-5 year crop rotation on such ground). Plant the ground with a cover crop (buckwheat, rye, wheat, clover from a catalog like Johnny’s Seeds or from your local feed and seed) to be tilled or plowed under.
When
the raspberries arrive, usually as a dead stem with roots attached, dig
a hole big enough to hold the roots without bending or circling the
roots. Create a
ball or hill of dirt in the
center of the hole and, centering the stem over and just touching the
ball, arrange the roots around the outside surface of the ball or hill. Make sure the roots are
touching dirt all around, then rake in the remaining dirt to fill the
hole. Firm the soil. Plants should be 1-2
inches deep. Water
thoroughly after planting. (But
remember, soil should be well drained; no standing water.)
Instead Tumbledown mulches heavily every year with straw (and compost with rabbit poop), and pulls up the weeds and grass within the rows for additional mulch. The grass is still heavy every year by mid-season, no matter how heavy the mulch.
Tumbledown has a trellis but cannot tell that it helps greatly with the raspberries, which seem to stay upright very well until heavily loaded with fruit, and at that point they droop with or without the trellis. (Blackberries are another animal altogether; the trellis is a great aid in holding them upright.) Perhaps the greatest contribution of the trellis to the raspberry patch is its support of the bird netting (14X30 ft @ $12.40 from Johnny’s Seeds in 2005). The birds like raspberries every bit as much as Tumbledown and will eat the individual rows of “bumps” on a berry as that row ripens, leaving the bare stem showing with half a green berry still clinging to the bush. Nothing drives Tumbledown crazy faster than that, so out comes the bird netting over the trellis. So far that spells the end of the thievery.
Tumbledown’s trellis is modeled on one featured in Garden Gate (February 2002, “Step-By-Step: Raspberry Trellis, p. 30).
[Illustration: raspberry trellis post, 8ft, 4x4 cedar post, 2ft in ground in concrete. Raspberry leaves just beginning to emerge, April '07.]
The
first two off-set wires are about 8-10 inches from the ground, with
each set to follow in approximately 2-ft intervals. (Notice how they
are run through the post and secured to the other side with screw
clamps that are fastened to the 4x4 posts.)
If canes are not bearing many (or big/plump) berries, then consider also thinning the number of canes or mowing the canes down after the fall picking (eliminating the spring picking, but allowing the next canes to grow without competition).
2006 (from 4 plants purchased in 2004):
Spring Crop was 7 ½ pints between 06/23 and
07/14, not counting the berries eaten by birds and the ones eaten on
cereal.
Fall Crop was
12 pints between 09/06 and 09/27, not counting the berries eaten by
birds and the ones eaten on cereal.
2007 (same plants, same treatment):
Spring Crop hasn't begun yet in earnest, but two indicators are very bad. First, there was a killer freeze of about a week with temperatures in the low 20s this year after the leaves on the canes had fully developed. Needless to say, the canes that were not permanently damages were set back considerably. Secondly, we are in a drought (in mid June it has now been 4-6 weeks without significant rainfall), so berries that have formed are very small and are not developing.
Picking Instructions from Pickyourown.org
Successful
Berry Growing
Rodale's All-New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening. "Raspberry," p. 508; "Brambles," pp. 78-85.
The American Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Gardening. "Raspberries," pp. 408-410.
Copyright © 2006-2007 by Tumbledown Farm
