raspberries

Has anyone tried raspberries in their square foot garden? If yes, please give details on how you did it and how well they did!
Thanks!

I planted one and have plans to expand. I set aside an area for strawberries, blueberries and blackberries (same idea) because they are not annuals, of course. I bought a small one so no fruit yet and I do no expect any this year. Right now I am planning to work around it and redo the configuration a bit. So, how is that for a reply filled with useless info! LOL. I am really looking forward to some fresh fruit next year.

That is great! I hope you get an abundance of fruit!

Did you do 1 plant for every 2 squares? Also, did you do any kind of trellis?

How are you planning to do it? If you have a 4X4 I would GUESS that it would be maybe 4 per box and they will completely devour the box and anything near it. I am putting mine in a 2X8 against a wall and with a fence/trellis. I have one there now and may add two more.

I have a 6' x 2' bed (12" high) with the back row planted this year with raspberries (one per foot). It's against a trellis since I have little idea what to expect when the plants get bigger. However, the raspberries immediately took to their new bed and have many young fruits set! No transplanting shock at all. I've been able to eat a few berries, and they're very good (Anne Golden variety).

Next year, I'm going to plant the backs of another two beds with them.

Good luck if you plan to go with them!

-Michelle

Glasgrl-
I have a 2'x8' bed that I was wanting to put in about 4 plants. When you put yours in the back section of the bed, what did you plant in front? I would think the raspberries would take over the whole width of the bed due to size of the plant!
What kind of trellis has anyone used? Did you use something a little more tough and sturdy?

Thanks!
Dawn

I put carrots and radishes in the front of the raspberries (which aren't doing well, but I think that's more due to the weather and a certain chipmunk that shall remain unnamed - he HAS a name, I just can't say it here). If the raspberries eventually take over the front of the bed, too, that's fine. Carrots and radishes will be easy to find another place for.

-Michelle

We are in zone 5 at about 6300' and our raspberries have been our only true "agricultural" success. We have had raised beds for about 5 years, and they have expanded themselves and taken over two additional beds (because we let them). We planted about 4 different kinds, and they are all mixed up now, but they are all fall raspberries, meaning I cut them down every year. It's a little hard to wait all summer for them, but when they come on it is great. This year we had an extremely long fall and our golden ones even showed up (not where we expected them, but oh well). I would recommend Fall Bliss and Polana. We are a little too high in elevation for Heritage, meaning that our growing season usually ends when H is just ripening. We got the plants from Norse Farms. The most important thing to know is that raspberries don't like wet feet! We water with a soaker hose woven through the plants. Good luck...they are worth it!

Welcome to you walkaboutgirl!!

ANYTHING that you can bring to harvest as 6300' is a success. In the PNW I think that is above the tree-line, but I'll have to check. So many people count raspberries as diva's that die before they have a chance to produce. Yours are the most extreme that I have ever read about!

i have been thinking about planting raspberries next year.

interesting info you all have shared.

soaker hose preferred
2 square feet per plant

and it looks like any variety would work where i live? i'm zone 5b and around sea level ish. (less than 1000 feet above sea level).

is this something i plant in spring? and i will look for the norse farms - and ask for a catalog - another thing to drool over all winter. *grin*

any particular light needs for raspberry? just typical garden ligth or does it prefer shade at hottest part of day or part shade overall or even full shade? tyring to think of where would be best location for these to thrive.

i know my aunts have them growing wild in PA in the edges of deep woods and it doesn't seem to have much sunlight htere at all.. .

found the link for the farm that sold the berry bushes

http://www.noursefarms.com/

and here's the site link for the catalog:

http://www.noursefarms.com/CustomerService/CatalogRequest.aspx

ooh AND i found that if you click: http://www.noursefarms.com/assets/2011_NOURSE.pdf

you will be able to view the catalog online while you wait for hte paper version to arrive in the mail.

thanks so much for sharing where you purchased your product!

Glad you found Nourse Farms. Their catalog has lots of info. They can probably recommend the best varieties for you. I think they are in Indiana. Our berries are on the west side of our house, so don't get sun until about 10 am by the time they are ripening. Seem perfectly happy. Remember, NO WET FEET!

walkaboutgirl - thanks for the tips! i was talking to my husband last night about our spring/summer planting plans and we both like the idea of planting on the west side of our fence. that will give us 50' to plant on - and that's if we only plant on the fence line inside our property! imagine if i made double box rows . . .yum!

do i also need to keep the soil acidic like blueberries? my aunt swears by sawdust on blueberries. . .

now i'm wishing i had some plants this past summer that i stored berries from!

Happyfrog - no need for acidic soils. Being out west, ours tend to be alkaline, but I've never had the soil tested. I just keep adding compost.

I would just put in an 18" bed, not worry about dividing it into SFG format, and let the canes fill themselves in. They get very tall and unruly by season end, so you might want to look at wires to restrain them. The Backyard Berry Book by Stella Otto is a good resource. You will NOT be able to control the roots. They would take over our entire garden if we let them.

walkaboutgirl wrote:Happyfrog - no need for acidic soils. Being out west, ours tend to be alkaline, but I've never had the soil tested. I just keep adding compost.

I would just put in an 18" bed, not worry about dividing it into SFG format, and let the canes fill themselves in. They get very tall and unruly by season end, so you might want to look at wires to restrain them. The Backyard Berry Book by Stella Otto is a good resource. You will NOT be able to control the roots. They would take over our entire garden if we let them.

sounds like a plan! 2 squares per plant ? should I space them even further apart

picturing this:

____________________________
_ - _
_ - _ this bed is 24 inches deep (2 squares) and i
_ - _ will have 2 plants in it (where the dashed
_ - _ line is separating it - and 24 inches long
____________________________ so the plants will have 2 full squares per plant. .. or should i make more space between plants for teh expanding root system and runner plants (do raspberries put up runner plants like strawberries?)

i have no idea why my little text box representing a sfg box won't show up.

ok here's a not to scale pic of what i want to do:

Hi Happyfrog,

You are being way way way optimistic that the raspberries will listen to you! You can make it look like a SFG if you want, but they will not stick to your plan of 1 plant to 2 squares. Yes, they send out runners which grow into new canes, which is what you want, that fill in the bed (and probably your adjacent lawn and your neighbors!). I would plan on a "conventional" planting, whatever Nourse Farms recommends as far as spacing.

As for what type, the fall raspberry has the distinct advantage of being chopped down completely every year whereas the summer raspberry has to be pruned because it only fruits on second year canes and then (I think) those canes don't produce again and you need to prune them out. I just go out one afternoon in the fall (okay, I've been avoiding it this year so far - maybe tomorrow) and chop them all down using a big pruner. No figuring out which ones produced and which are new canes. If you have a long fall, you will start getting berries in late August (depending on variety) and they will continue until frost. Autumn Bliss is our favorite, big fat long berries.

Hope this helps!