Enjoy your autumn raspberries to the full as they’ll be pumping out the berries by now. If you aren’t enjoying these wonderful, easy-to-care-for fruits make a note to buy some this winter: bare-rooted canes come into our garden centre in midwinter in bundles for immediate planting. Choose from dozens of varieties including the ever-reliable ‘Autumn Bliss’, sweet, yellow-fruited ‘Allgold’ and high-yielding ‘Polka’.
Even if you’re short on space you can still grow raspberries: a handful of canes planted in a large container, at least 45cm wide, and trained up a central pole gives you a surprisingly good crop.
Garden plants need as rich a soil as you can manage – digging in plenty of well-rotted organic matter first helps them get established quickly. Space canes 60cm apart and keep them well-watered in dry spells. A mulch in spring and autumn helps them grow on strongly too. Support their sometimes wayward shoots with a pair of wires strung between two sturdy posts on either side of the row.
Otherwise all you have to do is remember to prune the fruited canes back hard in winter. Around December or January, take a sharp pair of secateurs and remove every single stem right down to the ground.
