Focus on… Raspberries
NO allotment or edible garden would be complete without raspberry canes, but how do you ensure that your yields are abundant, flavoursome and healthy?
The classic red raspberry is a suckering shrub native to Europe, so it’s well suited to cooler, moister garden conditions. Look also for yellow-fruited types such as ‘Alpengold’ and black-fruited American varieties like ‘Starlight’ that claim a richer flavour.
Canes are either bristly or spine-free. There are two cropping types: floricane (summer-fruiting) and primocane (autumn-fruiting). Summer varieties, depending on which one you choose, will be ready for harvest from now (ie ‘Glen Moy’) to mid August (ie ‘Leo’). They bear their fruit on canes produced the previous year, so simply prune out fruited stems immediately after cropping and tie in the new stems to replace them; they need a post-and-wire system.
“Dwarf breeds are great for smaller plots”
Novices will do well to choose autumn raspberries (these
