Growing Strawberries And Raspberries

Buying and planting

Buy only plants that are certified free of viruses because raspberry plants are very prone to such infections, which are spread especially by aphids. Dig up rooted canes for replanting only if you know the plants are healthy and crop heavily.
Summer raspberries require a sturdy support system: run two wires — one 60cm (2ft) high and the other 1.5m (5ft) high — along the length of the row. Autumn raspberries don't need support.

Clear the site of perennial weeds before planting as these are difficult to control once raspberries are established. Plant bundles of bare-root canes in late autumn, spacing the new raspberry plants at least 30cm (12in) apart. Then add a mulch of bulky organic matter, 7.5cm (3in) thick. Avoid mushroom compost (which is too alkaline) or overly rich farmyard manure (which tends to burn off the new shoots as they push through the mulch layer).Once newly planted canes start to burst into leaf in spring cut them down to 10-15cm (4-6in) in height to encourage more canes to be produced. Tie summer varieties to the support wires ain late summer.
Autumn raspberry canes will bear fruit in their first year, summer raspberries in their second.

Plant care
In early summer, pull up suckers between the rows of summer raspberries, and thin autumn raspberries to 10cm (4in) apart. Cut out fruited summer canes once they've finished cropping and tie in new ones, thinning them to 10cm (4in) apart. Cut autumn raspberry canes down to the ground in midwinter.

In mid spring, top-dress both summer and autumn raspberries with a general-purpose fertilizer, then a mulch of low-nutrient organic matter such as garden compost or composted bark chips. Alternatively, top- dress with well-rotted farmyard manure.

At harvest time
The first summer raspberries are ready for harvesting in early summer, whereas autumn raspberries won't mature until late summer. Pick on a dry day. Eat them fresh, freeze them, or make into preserves.
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