🍇 Raspberry

Raspberries are among the easiest soft fruits, cropping heavily for ten years or more once established. They are expensive and fragile in shops, so a few canes are well worth growing for freshly picked, perfumed fruit.

Summer-fruiting types crop in June and July, autumn-fruiting types in August to October on the current year’s canes, and are simpler to prune. They tolerate light shade and suit large pots, but they are best in the ground with a simple support.

Varieties to try

Glen Ample (heavy cropping, summer)Tulameen (large, late summer)Autumn Bliss (the standard autumn type)Polka (large autumn fruit)Malling Jewel (traditional summer)Fall Gold (yellow, autumn)

Plant bare-root canes between November and March, when the soil is not frozen or waterlogged. Choose a sunny or lightly shaded site with moist but well-drained, slightly acidic soil, and dig in plenty of compost. Raspberries dislike waterlogging, so use raised beds on heavy soils.

Space canes 45–60 cm apart in rows 1.8 m apart, planting at the same depth as they grew in the nursery. After planting, cut canes to 25 cm above the ground. Install posts and wires (at 60, 90, 120 and 150 cm) to support them, and mulch with compost.

Top tips

• Plant between November and March.
• Cut canes to 25 cm after planting.
• Put up a post-and-wire support.
• Avoid sites with previous raspberries.

Mulch each spring with compost or well-rotted manure and water in dry spells, particularly when the fruit forms. Tie in new canes to the wires as they grow. Weed carefully by hand as the roots are shallow, and remove any suckers that appear outside the row.

Prune summer-fruiting types after harvest by cutting all canes that have fruited to the ground, and tie in 6–8 of the best new canes per metre. Autumn-fruiting types are simply cut to the ground in February. Raspberry beetle can infest fruit, and cane diseases can occur in wet soil.

Top tips

• Cut out fruited canes after harvest (summer types).
• Cut autumn types to the ground in February.
• Mulch each spring.
• Remove suckers outside the row.

Watch out for

Raspberry beetleBirdsCane blight and spur blightRaspberry virusesRoot rot in wet soil

Pick raspberries when they are fully coloured and come away easily from the plug (the core remains on the plant). Ripe berries are plump and soft. Pick every two or three days, preferably in the morning when dry, and handle gently.

Berries do not ripen further after picking, so wait until they are fully ripe. Use shallow containers to avoid crushing. Net the plants to protect from birds. Autumn varieties give fruit until the first frosts.

Top tips

• Pick when they come away easily.
• Pick every 2–3 days.
• Use shallow containers.
• Net against birds.

Eat fresh with cream or yoghurt, in desserts such as cranachan, pavlova and Eton mess, or turn into jam, coulis, ripple sauces, vinegars and liqueurs. They freeze very well. Raspberries pair with chocolate, almonds, peach and lemon.

Fresh berries keep for 2–3 days in the fridge, so use them quickly. Freeze on a tray without washing, then bag for up to a year; frozen raspberries hold their shape better than most berries. Raspberry jam is one of the best preserves.

Top tips

• Freeze unwashed on a tray.
• Sieve for a seedless coulis.
• Pair with chocolate and almonds.
• Make jam from surplus.