Raspberries are a fruit that is as delicious as it is expensive. All the better if you succeed in growing raspberries in your own garden. Here are helpful tips.
The raspberry (Rubus idaeus) is one of the most popular summer fruits. Whether made into ice cream, nicely garnished on dessert or simply as a fruity snack in between: the raspberry is sweet, delicious and refreshing in hot temperatures. We tell you how you can grow the sweet little fruit in your own garden and give useful care tips.
Raspberries are deciduous subshrubs that can reach a height of one to two meters depending on the variety. The shrub constantly renews itself from the rootstock. This is therefore very sensitive, which is why special attention should be paid to their requirements when choosing a location as well as when watering and fertilizing. With good care, however, raspberry bushes bear tasty fruit for up to ten years.
Raspberries: Profile
The red fruits belong to the rose family (Rosaceae). Contrary to what the name raspberry suggests, the soft fruits do not belong to the berries, but are aggregate drupes. The cluster drupe is a composite of individual small drupes that form from the blossoms of the raspberry. Bees and butterflies are particularly happy about the white blossom between May and August. The raspberry is therefore one of the very bee-friendly plants. Their fruits are usually red, but can also be black or yellow, depending on the variety. As many hobby gardeners may have learned painfully, depending on the variety, the canes of the raspberry are covered with more or less fine spines and their leaves are serrated.
Plant Raspberries
So that you can grow tasty raspberries in your garden, we have summarized the most important points on the subject of planting raspberries below.
Planting raspberries: the right time and location
Raspberries can be planted both in spring and in autumn. Depending on whether you choose summer or winter raspberries, it may take some time before they are harvestedlonger. However, we recommend planting the raspberries in autumn, as this gives the plant more time to get used to its new location. Raspberries like it best in the sun and need permeable, nutrient-rich soil. If you can grant your raspberry such a place, you will be rewarded with a rich harvest and an extensive abundance of flowers.
Raspberry varieties: Popular and well-tried varieties
With raspberries, you can basically differentiate between summer, autumn and so-called two-timer varieties. Summer raspberries bear fruit in summer (June/July) on the biennial canes, autumn raspberries bear fruit from August on the shoots formed in the same year. Twotimer raspberries usually bear fruit both in summer and again in autumn, although the harvest is then somewhat smaller. Further differences between summer and autumn raspberries - such as their pruning or susceptibility to disease as well as a detailed list of many red, yellow and black raspberry varieties - can be found here.
Care for raspberries properly: pruning, fertilizing and Co.
The raspberry is a very vigorous plant - both above and below ground. Regular care and a rigorous cut are therefore mandatory. We will tell you the most important care tips and explain the exact procedure.
Water the raspberries correctly
Raspberries like it permanently moist. However, the emphasis is exclusively on "moist", because overwatering can quickly lead to waterlogging, which in turn promotes rot and other diseases. Therefore, water your raspberries regularly during dry periods, but not too much. However, a mature raspberry bush can tolerate about 10 liters of water every two days in the dry midsummer. Especially during flowering and then when the plant begins to bear fruit until the end of the harvest, you should not forget to water it again. Too little water during fruit ripening means that the delicious fruits on the bush dry up quickly.
Fertilize raspberries
Raspberries need a fertilizer rich in potassium, which also contains small amounts of magnesium. Because raspberries also have high demands on the soil structure, organic ones are suitableFertilizers, which in addition to their nutrient effect also improve the soil, are particularly good. It is also important that nutrients are available to the raspberries over a long period of time and that they are not overwhelmed with them at the time of fertilization. This long-term effect is given naturally with organic fertilizers. As organic fertilizers, we recommend compost, cattle or pig manure, mulch or primarily organic fertilizers from the trade, for example our Plantura universal fertilizer. But the high-potassium Plantura organic tomato fertilizer is also ideal. Fertilize once at the beginning of the vegetation period as soon as the ground is no longer frozen, for example in March. Fertilizer is applied again a few weeks to months later - but before the raspberry blossoms.
You can find more information about fertilizing raspberries and the right amounts of fertilizer here.
Water the raspberries in the pot and fertilize
Just like the raspberries in the garden, their counterparts in the pot need to be watered properly. It is also important to ensure that there is no waterlogging, but that the soil does not dry out either. Even in winter, you need to water the potted raspberry bushes lightly every few weeks on a frost-free day. With raspberries that are grown in pots, it makes sense to fertilize a little less, but at shorter intervals. After all, the roots only have a very limited root space from which they can acquire nutrients.
Cut raspberries
The time and procedure for cutting raspberries depends largely on the variety. Summer raspberries only bear fruit on the shoots that the plant developed last year. Autumn raspberries, on the other hand, can already bear fruit on the new shoots of the same year.
Correct pruning and wire training is very important, especially for summer raspberries. After the last frost in March, it is best to examine your raspberry plant carefully and select about ten beautiful, he althy-looking shoots per linear meter (i.e. within a large step). At best, these shoots grow in different directions. The remaining rods are cut at ground level. You can now attach the selected rods to the climbing aid, a fence or similar.
Autumn raspberries are cut back completely every year because the newly formed, young annual shoots are the most fertile. Within arunning meter, you should choose about 20 freshly sprouted routes in early spring, which you leave as they are, and also cut the rest off at ground level.
Click here for more expert tips on slicing raspberries.
Tie up raspberries
The summer raspberries in particular need a certain amount of support so that they can reach the top. As the season progresses (and thus increases in length), attach the tendrils to the wires of the trellis. Wide plastic straps that do not cut into or damage the tendrils are suitable for this.
Tip: Use a different color of ribbon for annual vines than for biennials. This way you can distinguish between them and prevent the wrong shoots from being pruned.
The autumn raspberries need less help to shoot up stably. Two wires are enough (one 30 cm above the ground, the other at about 170 cm height) to support the much more stable rods for the upcoming fruiting. The routes don't even have to be tied if the wires are stretched on both sides of the plant.
Raspberries: recognize harvest time
As with many bush berries, the raspberry harvest time extends over a longer period of time. Depending on the variety and the weather conditions, this can vary. As the name suggests, the first summer raspberries are usually ready for harvest in June. After mild springs, the fruits of early summer raspberry varieties can be ripe in May. Depending on the variety, the harvest of summer raspberries usually lasts until the beginning or middle of July. Autumn raspberries can be harvested from August until well into autumn. The first frost is limiting for the harvest time. Twotimer varieties can be harvested twice: the first time, like summer raspberries, in June and July, and the second time between August and October.
Note: The so-called Twotimer varieties are basically nothing more than autumn raspberries. The classic autumn raspberry varieties can also bear fruit twice if the conditions are right. Twotimer strains are specially bred to allow the double harvest to take place with greater certainty.
Tip: When picking raspberries, don't just rely on the right time,but also on your keen gardening senses. While the size is irrelevant for the harvest, the berries should be brightly colored throughout, exude the typical raspberry aroma and be easy to detach from the bush. If all of this applies, then you have caught the perfect harvest time.
Storing and preserving raspberries
The raspberry is a typical summer fruit. If you don't want to do without the sweetness of your garden raspberries even in the colder seasons, there are a number of ways to preserve your raspberries.
Freeze Raspberries
The most well-known method of preserving raspberries is freezing. In the supermarket you can get frozen raspberries all year round, but you can also fill up your frozen supply from your own garden. After harvesting, you should carefully wash the raspberries and then drain them. After that, there are several ways to freeze raspberries, depending on how easily the sweet fruit should be portionable and how much water it can absorb when frozen.
Note: Handle the raspberries with great care - they are very vulnerable to pressure.
Preserving raspberries
Like almost every sweet fruit, the raspberry is ideal for preserving. Whether as a whole fruit in its own syrup or processed as jam or jelly: the raspberry offers a whole range of possibilities. If you want to preserve whole raspberries, you should only use a little preserving sugar and add the remaining sweetness to normal sugar. When cooking raspberry jam, however, you should use plenty of preserving sugar to get a spreadable consistency.
Drying Raspberries
Dried fruit is becoming increasingly popular. Many nutrition-conscious hobby gardeners therefore invest in their own drying oven in order to preserve their lovingly grown harvest. However, the raspberry is not really suitable for drying. It has a high water content (around 80%), which is why only the skin and seeds would remain after drying.
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