Sweet raspberries, along with strawberries, are one of the most popular fruits of summer. They are easy to grow yourself. With the right selection of varieties, you can even harvest raspberries several times a year.
How can I grow raspberries myself?
To grow raspberries successfully, they need a sunny, airy location and nutrient-rich, loose soil. Plant raspberries in autumn, with at least half a meter between bushes and 1.20 to 1.50 meters between rows, supported by suitable scaffolding.
Growing summer raspberries or autumn raspberries?
Summer raspberries and autumn raspberries differ in terms of care and harvest time. While the summer varieties ripen earlier, the autumn varieties take two months longer.
Caring for autumn raspberries is much less complicated. While only the two-year-old shoots of summer raspberries are cut, remove the canes of autumn raspberries completely.
Autumn raspberries are largely free of maggots because the raspberry beetle no longer lays eggs during the flowering period. In addition, the late varieties do not suffer from cane disease, which only affects perennial shoots.
Benefits of Summer Raspberries
- She matures earlier
- Higher crop yields
Benefits of Autumn Raspberries
- Hardly maggot infestation
- No failures due to tail disease
- Simple pruning
- Bears fruit in the first year
Growing tips
The cultivation of the two main varieties does not make a significant difference.
Raspberries need a sunny, airy place in nutritious, very loose soil. Although they thrive on nutrient-poor soils, the harvest is then smaller.
Plant the raspberries in rows or create a raspberry hedge. Make sure you have suitable scaffolding (€99.00 on Amazon) to which you can tie the rods.
The best planting time
You should plant raspberries in autumn. Over the winter the roots have time to strengthen themselves.
Raspberry bushes can also be planted in spring. However, it then takes a year longer until the first summer raspberries are ripe. The harvest of autumn raspberries will be smaller if they are not planted until spring.
Observe plant spacing
Don't plant raspberries too close together. The distance between the individual bushes should be at least half a meter.
A planting distance of 1.20 to 1.50 meters between the rows is ideal. This way you can harvest the bushes well and avoid compacting the soil too much by walking on them.
Tips & Tricks
If you are a big raspberry lover, you should grow summer and fall raspberries. Then you always harvest new fruit from July until the onset of frost. An alternative is two-timer raspberries, which produce two harvests.