Growing Raspberries in Your Garden

Raspberries are brambles, growing as tangled and prickly shrubs of arched canes that produce juicy, sweet-tart berries year after year. Raspberries are low in calories while also being high in fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, making them a healthy planting choice. Delicious in desserts, smoothies, or straight off the plant, raspberries are a sure hit.

Choosing Plants

Raspberries are available in summer bearing or everbearing variations. Summer bearing raspberry brambles generally produce fruit in June or July, while everbearing varieties produce two crops, one in early summer and a second, larger harvest in late summer or early fall. Each type has different pruning requirements, so make sure you know what you’re planting before you get started.

Take some time to research raspberry varieties that grow best in your region; while one plant may thrive in Florida’s heat, it may produce a lackluster harvest in a cooler zone. Be sure to also consider eventual space requirements when purchasing plants. All raspberries are self-fertile, so even a single bush will produce fruit.

Starting with healthy plants is critical to success. If you are ordering your plants from an online nursery, go with bare-root plants. Dormant bare-roots plants are lightweight, reducing shipping costs. They are also less likely to be affected by extended transportation periods. If you prefer potted plants, your best option is to shop at your local garden center.

Selecting a Planting Location

When choosing a spot to plant, go with full sun for the best results. Some gardeners have success with semi-shaded locations, but for high yield, a sunny spot is usually the way to go. If rabbits or squirrels have been plaguing you, consider planting raspberries as natural fencing; if you’ve ever tried to walk through a bramble patch you know how effective those thorns can be. Raspberry brambles do like to spread, though, so make sure that you plan for eventual space needs when selecting a location for your raspberry patch.

Planting

Spring planting is best for raspberries. Right around the last expected frost date is usually a good time to add new plants to the ground. Brambles do not like soggy roots, so consider building a raised box if your area tends toward the wet side. The bed doesn’t have to be tall; one to two feet should be enough. Follow spacing requirements specific to the variety of berry that you’ve purchased.

To plant, dig a hole twice as wide as the root ball and just as tall. Place a raspberry plant in the hole and fill with soil, patting down to remove air pockets. Water well.

Immediate Aftercare

Raspberries are poor competitors with weeds, so mulching is a good idea. And as hand weeding around brambleberry canes is a hazardous endeavor (those thorns are no joke!), mulching is doubly recommended. Add 3 to 4 inches of mulch surrounding each plant. Straw, untreated woodchips, leaves, lawn clippings, and sawdust are all mulch options to consider.

Pruning and Propagation

All raspberries need annual pruning to perform at their best. How and when you prune will depend on whether you have planted a summer or everbearing variety of raspberry.

While summer-fruiting raspberries are long-lived perennial plants, each individual cane lives for only two summers. During the first season, the cane focuses its energy on vegetative growth. It is only during the second year that flowers and fruit develop. Summer fruiting raspberry canes can be pruned immediately after the crop of berries has finished. To prune, cut the canes that produced berries all the way to the ground. Just make sure to leave non-berry-producing canes alone; those are the canes that will bear the next season’s crop. It’s usually easy to differentiate between the old and new growth canes; older canes have brown stems, while new growth stems are green.

Everbearing raspberries can be pruned in one of two ways. You can choose the simple fall-only harvest trim, or the more complicated dual harvest pruning option. New growth canes of everbearing raspberries produce fruit during the first growing season, so many growers opt to harvest berries in the fall, allow the bush to go dormant, then cut all of the canes back to ground level in late winter/very early spring. You only get one harvest this way, but it simplifies the process. To produce two crops of berries per season, trim back all of the canes that fruited to just below the fruit line, leaving the livelier-looking lower portion of the cane to produce an early-season crop of berries the following year while new-growth canes spring up alongside them.

Brambles can be invasive, so keep your eye out for “runners,” roots that travel for long distances underground before reemerging in sometimes inconvenient locations. To remove runners, use a trowel to sever the runner between the parent plant and the new cane. Then pull the new plant up and discard, or, better yet, transplant to a better location to increase the footprint of your bramble patch.

Harvesting Berries

Check plants once every day or two during the fruiting season to pick ripe berries. Not only do raspberries taste best at the peak of ripeness, leaving the fruit to overripen can attract unwanted pests to your berry canes. Ripe berries will be easy to remove from the plant; just be careful not to bruise the delicate fruit as you gently pull berries to remove them from the plant.

To store berries, sort out any twigs, leaves, or funky berries. But don’t wash if you plan to refrigerate. Washing will lead to mold, so only rinse your berries immediately before you plan to eat them. Lay berries in a paper towel-lined container, avoiding stacking whenever possible. Leave lid cracked open in the refrigerator to vent. Keep in mind that even properly stored berries won’t stay good for more than a couple of days, so plan to use them soon after harvest.

Long-Term Berry Storage

If you have a bumper crop, consider freezing extra berries to make them last longer. Gently rinse freshly picked berries and allow to drain, then lay the berries in a single layer on a parchment paper-lined pan. Freeze berries until firm, then remove from pan and transfer to a long-term storage container. Frozen berries will stay good for up to a year.

Raspberry jams and preserves are also a delicious way to stretch out the enjoyment of your crop. Canning does require special equipment and know-how, so make sure to research thoroughly before you get started. Properly preserved through canning, raspberry jams, jellies, and the like can last up to two years.