10 tips for delicious home-grown raspberries

Small and sweet: raspberries are a real treat on hot summer days. With these ten tips, the delicious berries will also thrive in your garden.

Raspberries are just delicious - regardless of whether they are freshly picked, on desserts or made into jam. We have summarized what you should consider when growing raspberries in your garden in the following 10 tips.

Tip 10: summer or autumn?

Raspberries belong to summer? Not quite: there is now a whole range of raspberry varieties that only bear fruit in autumn. Summer raspberries are often more productive and taste more intense, but autumn raspberries are catching up in terms of taste and are less susceptible to pests and diseases. So if you want to enjoy fresh raspberries both in summer and in autumn, you can simply grab a variety of them

Raspberry varieties. If that is too strenuous for you, you will find a suitable alternative with the two-timer varieties. This cross between summer and autumn raspberries often bears numerous fruits in both early summer and autumn.

Tip 9: the right location

Even if the raspberry is a forest plant, it doesn't like the shade. The plant thrives best in sunny locations - after all, it also prefers sunny clearings and forest edges in nature. Although the raspberry thrives well in nutrient-poor soils, it bears significantly more fruit on nutrient-rich soils. If the soil is also permeable, so that no waterlogging can occur, the raspberry is twice as good. The Plantura Organic tomato & vegetable soil for example, is ideal for growing soft fruit. In order to prevent diseases, care should be taken when replanting that there have been none on the area beforehand Blackberries or raspberries. Also potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers Eggplant are not good predecessors - they are prone to Verticillium wilt, which can be carried over to raspberries.

Tip 8: off to the wall

Raspberries are very prone to root rot. Creating a small dam is a good option so that they thrive without problems in the garden despite sub-optimal soil conditions. First of all, the existing subsoil should be loosened. Then you fill a dam about 30 cm high and 60 cm wide made of humus-rich soil. You can now place your raspberry plants in the middle of this small wall. Incidentally, raspberries in the pot can be used almost all year round. Autumn is ideal, however, as it is highly likely that the plants will already bear fruit in the following summer.

Tip 7: climbing frame

In good conditions, the raspberries literally grow over your head: the prickly shrub can grow up to two meters high. But with this stately size, the plant often finds it difficult to support its own weight. A climbing aid can help. The tendrils can climb up on this and grow expansively in width. Since the raspberry can bear fruit for up to ten years, you should pay attention to weatherproof, durable material when building the climbing aid. Otherwise the raspberry will survive its home. A simple solution are trellises made of wood and rope. At the ends of each row of raspberries, stakes are driven into the ground and strings are stretched between them at heights of 50 cm, 80 cm, 110 cm and possibly a further 140 cm. To create a little more order, the shoots can also be attached to the cords by hand (for example with wires). If you choose different colors for the one- or two-year-old shoots, you also simplify the pruning.

Tip 6: fertilizer and water

Raspberries like it moist, but not wet. So you can look forward to a watering can or two in summer. However, overzealous watering leads to waterlogging and in the worst case to disease or rot. The plant also benefits from fertilizer: a good fertilizer - for example our Plantura - can be particularly useful in the weeks before the harvest Organic tomato fertilizer - help out a little. From June, however, the plant should prepare for winter and no longer be fertilized. Organic fertilizers are particularly suitable for supplying the plants with nutrients. When they are pre-rotten, their nutrients are quickly available and even stimulate the soil life.

How one Raspberries fertilize, learn from this article.

Tip 5: Reach for scissors

Every now and then the raspberry has to go to the hairdresser. The right cut is largely dependent on the variety. Summer raspberries only bear fruit on the two-year-old shoots, so these should not be removed under any circumstances. However, autumn raspberries already bear fruit on the new shoots, which is why you can cut the plant back completely every year. In early spring, around 20 freshly sprouted rods per meter can be selected, the rest is cut off at ground level. Summer raspberries, on the other hand, should be cut in mid-May. Here the ten strongest shoots are selected, the rest are also cut back to ground level. If the tendrils of both varieties show over the highest trellis wire, they can also be pruned in late autumn. This promotes the formation of new shoots.

more on the subject Cut raspberries learn from this article.

Tip 4: green carpet

The ground around wild raspberries is covered with old leaves for most of the year. So it's no wonder that the garden raspberry has no objection to a nice layer of mulch. The mulch layer not only insulates the soil so that there are fewer temperature fluctuations. It also keeps the moisture in the soil so the raspberry has it nice and moist, the way it likes it. Most suitable for the raspberry is a layer of lawn clippings or autumn leaves. These not only have the advantage that they are free in the garden and would otherwise end up on the compost. In addition, they enrich the soil with humus and nutrients when rotting and thus serve as a natural fertilizer.

Tip 3: harvest time

You have waited all spring and look forward to the first fresh raspberries. But when did the time finally come? Even if the time of harvest depends on many factors, a rough direction is the period from June to July for summer raspberries and August to the first frost for autumn raspberries. However, it is best to rely on your senses. If the berries are evenly and strongly colored and a delicious scent rises in your nose, it is time to reach for the collecting basket. The raspberries should also come off easily. The size of the berries, on the other hand, is not decisive. Once the berries have achieved their strong color, they will not grow any further, even if you leave them on the bush. Instead, they start to rot or are eaten by animals, which would be a shame for the sweet fruits.

more on the subject Pick raspberries and harvest see this article.

Tip 2: raspberries from the balcony?

Is the raspberry a purely garden plant? Thought wrong! Even if not all varieties are suitable for growing in pots, there are now varieties that also delight balcony gardeners. These grow particularly upright and with comparatively short shoots, so that they also thrive in pots if you follow a few tips. The bucket should be big enough (at least 25 liters) to give the roots space. Your pitch should be very sunny and sheltered from the wind so that the plant does not tip over. The ideal place for a raspberry potted plant is in front of a south wall. If you follow these few tips, you can soon be comfortably nibbling from the balcony.

Tip 1: raspberries for the whole year

Summer is over, autumn is almost over and the last raspberries are harvested. Now it's time to eat quickly, after all, the fresh berries do not have a long shelf life. But stop: if you want to enjoy the fruit in winter too, you can easily get yours Preserve raspberries. Frozen they last forever and hardly lose their taste. Before freezing, the raspberries should be sorted thoroughly and washed again. Moldy or eaten berries do not belong in the bag. After draining thoroughly so that no unnecessary ice crystals form, portions of the raspberries can then wait to be used in the freezer.