I’ve never grown raspberries and after a visit to Poland in August of last year, and seeing all of the lovely fruits that had grown, I made a mental note to grow some in the year ahead.
As you’ll see, allotments are a serious business in Poland and it’s one of my favourite places to get inspiration from.
After conducting some research as to what raspberry plants to grow, I decided that I wanted a good yield for a longer period of time. This meant that I had to seek out summer fruiting raspberries and autumn fruiting raspberries – with a view to pick raspberries from July all the way through to October.
Malling Promise – Summer fruiting
Malling promise is said to produce a generous load of rosy red fruits with a good flavour. As a good all-purpose raspberry it’s virus resistant and said to be tolerant of poor soils, which in my eyes makes it perfect for growing at an allotment.
The fruits are suitable for jam making, freezing or eating straight away – all of which get a thumbs up from me.
Autumn bliss – Autumn fruiting
I picked this particular variety because of the words on the back of the label – “A truly exceptional variety! Without a doubt one of the best and most reliable Autumn varieties.”
I don’t think you can get a higher endorsement than that! Said to produce large, firm berries that will store well.
Autumn bliss holds the RHS Perfect for Pollinators stamp, as well as the RHS Award for Garden Merit – so that’s an extra couple of thumbs up from me on these particular plants.
Planting Raspberries
Having never grown raspberries before, I didn’t quite know what to expect if I’m totally honest. The canes are usually around 4-7 to a pot and I initially thought that you plant the whole pot into the ground as one.
However, after removing the pot I discovered that all of the canes were bound together with tape, which indicated to me that each cane needs to be planted individually.
The beds I planted these raspberries into are quite long and narrow, so it made sense to dig a long trench about a spades depth and line up the canes around 30cm apart. I used my trusty trowel as a measure.
Once outlined, it was a case of filling in the trenches and mounding up the canes.
I did my best to keep everything in line and as straight as possible and this is to provide support later on in the year.
I even had a few plants of each variety left over so I added a row either side of the rhubarb as a little experiment.
Since planting these, the weather turned cold – but I’m hoping this doesn’t have any adverse effects on my efforts. Keeping my fingers crossed!
If you’ve grown raspberries before, I’d love to know what you’ve varieties you’ve chosen and if you’ve had much success in the comments below 🙂
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