Roots and Shoots: All-Season Berries

When gardeners ask for recommendations about expanding their harvests, raspberries are at the top of my list. They are the easiest and most giving, without a lot of pressure to contain them. Tree fruit is a topic for another time. 

There are many more varieties of raspberries than what you will see at the grocery store or a garden center. I’ve found Fedco’s catalog and Raintree Nursery’s website full of useful details and growing guides. Their selections can give you ideas even if you decide to shop locally. 

Raspberries are self-pollinating, which means they don’t need another raspberry bush to bear fruit. But they benefit from having another variety nearby; research has shown it increases the quantity of berries. Since bees will do most of the work spreading pollen, it helps to have other pollinator-attracting plants in the landscape to increase foraging. 

I like to mix varieties because you can get berries from summer into fall. Combine the two types of cultivars, summer-bearing and everbearing. 

Summer-bearing canes will have berries ready to pick as early as June and/or July, depending on the variety. Harvest everbearing canes in July and again in late August and September. It’s a huge bonus to have berries all summer and not be overwhelmed by a single harvest with a fruit that needs to be consumed or processed quickly. 

Local nurseries carry popular summer-bearing canes such as Boyne and Latham, and everbearing varieties such as August Red and Polana are widely available.

Raspberries need full sun and soil rich in organic matter. I confess that I don’t water them regularly, which may produce fewer berries, but I haven’t found the plants to be needy. The recommended schedule is 2 inches of water per week in the growing season, but since I am not growing commercially, I let mine manage on their own unless it’s dire. 

Fertilizer can be compost or an organic hit of nitrogen from a source like soybean meal or aged manure. Mulch adds organic matter and retains moisture. 

If you’re purchasing a raspberry bush at a nursery and taking it home, it is most likely a second-year plant. When ordering online, you will most likely get a seedling or first-year plant. Everbearing canes will bear fruit in that first year and summer-bearing canes in the second. 

Trellising with a simple rail system with bushes planted on either side is effective. The T-shape will hold up the branches, making them easier to harvest as the weight pulls them down. It’s also easy to prune the canes this way and keep the bushes to a manageable 5 to 6 feet tall. They can grow 9 feet tall if untended, which is fine, if you’re a bird. 

Raspberries need protection from deer. This is one way to distinguish between a raspberry and a wineberry, an invasive species. Deer will munch on a raspberry cane, thorns and all. They will not touch a wineberry bush. 

Birds are your other competitor. Rather than netting the bushes, which can cause injury to birds when not done properly (and let’s face it, most of us won’t do it right), you can build a cage around them. Personally, I don’t mind sharing. Reflective tape is also helpful. 

Prune everbearing canes that produce berries to the ground in late fall or early spring. With summer-bearing canes, cut back after fruiting or in fall or early spring. This thinning allows the bush to stay vigorous and neatens up the canes to make it easier to pick the berries.