Starting off a raspberry patch

[TheGingerAllotmenteer]

Hello! I'm a fairly new allotmenteer - got the allotment in September and have been digging more or less non-stop since then. Well, I've been running out of ground to dig and have started doing more involved planning, and one of the things I'm planning is a raspberry patch.
However, I think partly because I'm new to all this, I'm keen to try out as many varieties as I can! But is it possible to have multiple varieties of raspberry in one patch? Specifically, I'd like to try out the Glen Coe variety along with a couple of others. Space isn't a massive issue (I ended up with more allotment than I could've dreamed of), but I'm concerned that there may be unforeseen problems with having multiple varieties in the same patch. Does anyone have any wisdom on this, or perhaps general wisdom on setting up a raspberry patch?

[hellybore]

Wisdom, no, but maybe you can learn from my mistakes! I planted out several different varieties a couple of years back, a mixture of summer and autumn fruiting, but neglected to label them, which makes pruning a bit tricky. My advice is keep the labels on!! Can't see any problem with mixing varieties other than that. Happy raspberry growing!

[TheGingerAllotmenteer]

Wisdom, no, but maybe you can learn from my mistakes! I planted out several different varieties a couple of years back, a mixture of summer and autumn fruiting, but neglected to label them, which makes pruning a bit tricky. My advice is keep the labels on!! Can't see any problem with mixing varieties other than that. Happy raspberry growing!

Haha, thank you for the speedy reply! I learnt from my lack of labelling errors last spring (got confused with tomato and aubergine seedlings, causing havoc), but if that's the only thing that can go wrong, that's not so bad!

[WendyC]

I wouldn't plant a patch. I'd plant them in rows. Easier to support, pick and prune!

[Guest]

Hi and wslcome to the vine.
In regards to rasps I have nothing to add to what has been said. However, if I was you I would get a rough plan down for the whole plot of what you want to plant where. The last thing you want is plant them then somewhere down the line when all else is done you find it doesn't suit. Good luck

[TheGingerAllotmenteer]

Hi and wslcome to the vine.
In regards to rasps I have nothing to add to what has been said. However, if I was you I would get a rough plan down for the whole plot of what you want to plant where. The last thing you want is plant them then somewhere down the line when all else is done you find it doesn't suit. Good luck

Thank you! I had a rough plan before I started, all neat and written down - then I started actually working on the allotment, and since then I've amended my plan roughly 5 times! Based mainly on the fact that I've ended up with more space than I anticipated. But this is excellent news. I'm looking forward to trying out a few different kinds!

[Scarlet]

Definately go for rows as Wendy has suggested. They grow like weeds and new ones will pop up everywhere, if your varieties are too close you won't know which is which. Summer varieties not only have different pruning regime to winter rasps they also need a good support system.

[veggiechicken]

Hello and welcome to the Grapevine
I have a real ragbag of raspberries, running amok in the garden. So my advice would be, keep summer ones separate from autumn ones - to make pruning easier. Having said that, my pruning technique is a bit non-conventional - if its dead cut it out, otherwise let them get on with it!!
Plant them on the north side of the plot, so that they don't cast shade over the other plants (unless you have something growing that's even taller)
Finally, enjoy them, I'm still picking raspberries in November .

[Kirk]

Leaving the labels on will not really help.
When a raspberry throws out another cane there is no label on it so you have no idea which it is.
I wouldn't mix summer and autumn ones, simply they grow and fruit slightly differently and so the pruning is performed a little different.

If you want it "easy" then just plant autumn fruiting ones. There are a number of good varieties these days.

They spread, if you plant a patch of say 2 meters wide the patch will soon be 5 meters.

[Tripmeup]

As everyone says, they will spread quite quickly so plant in rows, and even then the row can soon become a block!
So do keep the Autumn ones separate...

[Two_Sheds]

general wisdom on setting up a raspberry patch?

Summer varieties tend to get maggots.
Autumn varieties crop after the main egg-laying season, so generally escape infestation. I grow only Polka these days

[muddled]

not sure whether to post this here or start a new thread. Apologies if this counts as hijacking

On my last allotment, a neighbour had raspberry 'bushes'. The fruit were yellow and pink and the bushes grew to only 3 or 4 feet.
I guess they could have been just clumps of canes but they didn't seem to spread into each other.

The chap who had planted them had sadly died and the new fella on the plot was a miserable so and so who just shrugged when I asked;

Would it have been the variety or the maintenance that produced such lovely, compact and manageable bushes? They certainly produced enormous crops!

[Alison]

Although autumn and summer raspberries fruit differently and autumn one produce on new canes and summer on the previous years, you still prune in a similar manner in that you always cut back any cane that has fruited so it is possible to mix them up without the world ending. However personally I'd keep them separate so I can remember which is which. I gave no idea what sumner varieties I have as they were on my plot when I got it but I suspect there are a few different types as they fruit over a few weeks. If setting up my own I'd try to put the early ones St one end of the row, moving through to the later ones at the other end but that is just my preference.

[Kristen]

I'm keen to try out as many varieties as I can! But is it possible to have multiple varieties of raspberry in one patch?

I have a double row of Raspberries along the East-most edge of my patch. I bought 10 canes each of 10 different varieties, from first mega-early to so-late-the-frost-gets-them-first!

There is a point along the row where they switch from Summer to Autumn fruiting, but as Alison says it doesn't matter too much as for pruning you just cut down any cane that has fruited; for the Summer Fruiting that will turn out to be 50% of them, and for Autumn pruning 100%. At the join I expect I have some that have crept sideways into each other, so perhaps having a break between the two would be better - you could then just take a hedge cutter to the Autumn ones, in late Autumn / Winter, and level the whole lot to the ground. Summer fruiting ones you have to be more dilligent sorting the Done from the Doing. I'm sure in olden times we use to train them "out" - so two wires well outside the row itself that we then tied the canes to, so that the new ones grew vertically up the middle, the fruiters were tied and trained outwards to the wires, and come pruning it was easy to tell which was which. I don't see that recommended nowadays, and I certainly never bothered with anything fancy like that with mine - perhaps I should have done?!

general wisdom on setting up a raspberry patch?

They are tall, watch out for what they might shade in mid summer - an East-West row at the South end of you plot wouldn't be the best spot!!

Perhaps plant the Raspberries as a "hedge" along the edge of your plot?

[stevejohnson53]

hi

I just thought I would tell of my experience with my Raspberry bed.

I have been on this current allotment for 12 months. The previous tenants had raspberries growing in various spots all over the place! Each "clump" fruited throughout the season as if they had mixed different varieties in each clump. The roots were spreading all over and new canes were poping up everywhere. IT DID MY HEAD IN (as us young 'en say)

Last month I dug them all up and dumped them. TIME FOR NEW START! I emptied a 4mtr x 2mtr raised bed and lined it with 100g weed membrane. I put dividers with the membrane to make the 1 big bed into 4 smaller individual beds. The idea is to stop the roots intermingling and so any new canes would be easy to identify.

I am just waiting for new canes to arrive. I have ordered Glen Magma, Glen Fyne, Polka and Zeva.

I will try to attach a photo to help show what I am babbling about.

Steve