Raspberries in the Garden

In brief: Plant raspberries in autumn or early winter, shallowly, at a depth of 5 to 10 cm, about 40 cm apart with rows around 2 m apart, in a bright spot with humus-rich soil. They need a support and feeding three times a year. They fruit on two-year-old canes, so remove the spent canes and leave 6 to 8 one-year-old ones.

Raspberries Rich in Colour

Raspberries are not only very tasty, they also contain natural  pigments  that give them their red colour. The redder the raspberries are, the more of this pigment they contain.

Raspberries have been known to humankind  since prehistoric times, and today there are  countless varieties of raspberry with different  sizes, colours and flavours  of fruit, which are easy to grow in the garden. That is why raspberries are among the most popular  garden fruit  and  a favourite in the kitchen.

Raspberries in the Kitchen

Raspberries are probably best fresh, but they keep in that state for only a few hours.

For longer storage they can be preserved or, even better,  frozen. That way you can have raspberries in the kitchen all year round.

Sometimes you will find tiny white worms in raspberries. It is enough to tip such raspberries into a shallow bowl with an upturned lid and put it in the fridge. The worms crawl out and get caught in the lid.

Besides eating fresh raspberries, there are plenty of excellent recipes for  desserts, soups and main courses made with raspberries. They can also be used to make various  drinks  – juices, syrups, liqueurs and wine.

Very popular have become  hot raspberries, sometimes also called “Hot love”, often served with ice cream and whipped cream. This delicious dessert can be prepared quite simply and will surely refresh you in the sultry summer.

Hot Raspberries with Ice Cream (2 servings)

We need:

• 200 g raspberries (fresh or frozen)
• vanilla ice cream (amount to taste, approximately 0.5 l)
• sugar (granulated)
• 50 g butter
• 100 ml morello cherry liqueur (optional)
• lemon juice (optional)

Method:  Melt the butter in a pan and add the sugar. Let the sugar caramelise slightly, stirring constantly. Add the raspberries to the liquid sugar and mix very carefully so that the raspberries are not crushed. We can also add fresh lemon juice. When the mixture is hot, add the cherry liqueur. Let it warm through just a little more and take the pan off the heat. Pour the mixture prepared in this way over the ice cream and, if you like, decorate with whipped cream, grated nuts or chocolate.

If you would like to taste hot raspberries but the recipe seems too complicated, you can try a simpler version:

Hot Raspberries – Simplified Version  

We need:

• 200 g raspberries (fresh or frozen)
• 2 tablespoons of sugar  
• vanilla ice cream

Method:  Put the sugar with the raspberries in the microwave and let it heat. Mix the mixture carefully and pour it over the vanilla ice cream.

 Hot raspberries taste excellent when underlined by the scent of lemon balm. If you can, serve them with a sprig or a few lemon balm leaves.

Growing Raspberries

Raspberry canes thrive almost everywhere where they have  enough light. The best soil is medium-heavy soil with a high content of humus, but they will also grow fairly well in other soils, which we improve by adding compost. A lack of light results in a smaller fruit set and less pronounced flavour, and often also frost damage in winter. Because of their shallow root system they need   watering during longer dry spells.  

Raspberries  are planted in autumn or at the start of winter, that is, during the dormant period. We plant them shallowly, to a depth of about 5-10 cm. Between individual plants in the row we keep a distance of about 40 cm, between rows around 2 m, depending on the vigour of the particular variety.

To grow properly , the raspberry cane needs  a support  and enough nutrients.

A support is provided by growing along a post or between wires. For feeding we use fertilisers for soft fruit or special  fertilisers intended only for raspberries. They are usually fed three times a year – early in spring, around mid-May and after harvest.

For propagation and planting, both root cuttings and stem cuttings can be used.

Pruning Raspberries

After planting, the shoots of the plants need to be cut back to 20-40 cm.  Thicker shoots are cut back less, weaker ones more. This prevents fruit set in the first year and thus excessive weakening of the plants.

In early spring of the following year we select the 2-3 strongest shoots, shorten them by approximately one fifth and remove the remaining shoots.

  In the following years  we remove the spent shoots, which dry up, and any other surplus ones. The raspberry fruits on two-year-old woody shoots, so it is advisable to leave 6-8 one-year-old shoots each year, which will fruit the following year, and remove the rest.

There are also  everbearing  (twice-fruiting) raspberry varieties. With those we prune either at the start of winter or in early spring, removing only the drying tips of the shoots.

Raspberry Diseases

Sometimes you can find deformations and blisters on raspberry leaves, which often change colour to pink or red. They are usually caused by sap-sucking pests, mainly  aphids. With a larger occurrence of aphids or other sap-sucking pests the bushes must be protected, because insect attack weakens them and can also transmit many diseases, especially viral ones. For spraying you can use any   insecticides  intended for sap-sucking insects.

Raspberry canes are fairly susceptible to  viral diseases, which are spread mainly by aphids. The main symptoms are pale veins and spots on the leaves, less vigorous growth and a markedly lower yield. The disease cannot be cured; the only protection is prevention against aphids and removal of infected plants before they can infect others. The disease can also be avoided with greater likelihood by choosing more resistant varieties.

The raspberry cane midge  is a harmful insect living inside raspberry canes. It occurs up to a height of about 1 m above the ground. The larvae form  galls on the surface of the canes, which look like blisters. Affected shoots flower and fruit poorly.

Because the insect lives inside the plant, protection by spraying is not possible. As soon as you find galls, the best solution is to remove the affected canes as soon as possible and burn them. The larvae are inside the shoots from June until spring, so later removal makes no sense.

If you are dealing with a number of  white worms  inside the raspberries, these are  larvae of the raspberry beetle  or the grey raspberry beetle. If the plants are attacked regularly, it is advisable to treat the buds with Decis.

Raspberry canes can also be attacked by  fungi and phytoplasmas. If the plant produces a conspicuous number of weak shoots that do not flower, it is probably one of these diseases. The only protection is to dig up such a plant and burn it, and not to grow raspberries in its place for some time.

Although there are many diseases that can affect raspberries, it does not happen too often. It is important to pay attention to  choosing the variety  of raspberry and   the right site, and to ensure its optimal nutrition, and it is usually  able to defend itself against diseases.

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