The fruit I missed most when we left the smallholding were raspberries. We'd grown them for all the time we were there on good sized plots, so that we had some to sell as well as plenty to eat. They were a reliable small source of income, and not so prickly picking as the 100lb + of gooseberries!.
At Clay Cottage there was a small patch of canes on one corner of the fruit bed and I was able to throw a big net over them and harvest a few each summer and also autumn because there were some prickly autumn canes mixed in among the summer fruiting. We tried to grow more in a fruit cage, but Colin died before the cage was finished and the area we'd chosen for it was too dry and too far from the water butts to carry water. I took the cage down and sold it before moving.
Moving here I discovered a few - about 3 - canes up against the fence. They were autumn fruiting but hadn't been pruned back at the right time, so produced just a very few fruit on the ends of very long canes. I cut them back recently - a few new canes might appear in the spring but they are squashed in against the fence and between a climbing rose and a Buddleia so I'm not hopeful.
Brother in Law helped me make a long thin bed raspberry in the autumn and I ordered some canes, a pack of 5 Glen Ample and splashing out extra on some 'long canes' - 5 Tulameen, they will produce some fruit this year. Both these are mid summer varieties. The parcel arrived quickly but even before I opened it I knew it was too small to hold the 5 long canes and sure enough the Tulameen were just the normal bare-rooted. I emailed and sent photos, showing the canes all the same short height in the bucket and their label.
and they apologised and said keep the ones that were wrong. So I planted all 10 small canes in the new bed. They'll look like this one day I hope.
Brother in Law bought me two wooden posts for Christmas (along with the wellie-boot stand) and sometime he will bang them into the ground, then I can fix some wires along the top and middle.
The proper long canes
I'd ordered arrived in a large box just two days later.
Really, really good prompt service from Marshalls (unless you count getting it wrong in the first place!) and as I've got 15 quality canes for the price of 10 I'm not complaining.
Perhaps in a couple of years I'll be able to fill a bowl like this picture from 2014 at the smallholding
Fingers crossed you'll have a bumper crop very soon. I would love to grow raspberries if I had more space in the garden, but fortunately, there are quite a lot growing wild here, so I don't miss out. X
ReplyDeleteIt will take a couple of years to get enough new canes for a bowlful I reckon
DeleteOoh me raspberries...there's a story...which will probably be told at my wake by my children! x
ReplyDeleteSounds interesting!
DeleteI love raspberries, but haven't worked out where I could grow them here
ReplyDeleteI wish I could have squeezed in more but hope I get a few to eat eventually
DeleteWell if you can protect them from the birds you should be able to get enough raspberries to eat some fresh and freeze a few. Nice of Marshalls to send you the correct canes and let you keep the wrong ones, although I'm sure spending even more time in the postal system wouldn't have made them re-sellable anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe one and only time we had a really good crop of raspberries, we missed them by a day. I walked over to pick them after spotting them the day before, and the canes had all but been stripped bare, we had enough to garnish a pudding and that was it, thank goodness we had so many blackberries and gooseberries.
Netting is on the shopping list - hopeless without
DeleteThere's nothing quite so nice as fresh picked raspberries; they're a flavour made in heaven, I think.
ReplyDeletexx
My favourite summer fruit, even better than strawberries
DeleteI agree, raspberries are essential. I put a few babies in last year, but will add to them. Mainly autumn ones so far so I need to get more summer ones. I have some blackcurrants to go in too - in tiny pots from Morrisons. Slapped wrist they have been languishing outside the door all winter! I was NOT in the mood for gardening last year - I did what I could in the top paddock and established a long herbaceous border and planted all my roses and some stuff up on the bank, but the WEEDS really need sorting out and aas it was mild, I was out there yesterday.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking I should have made room for more canes
DeleteI keep wondering about raspberries, but the birds here are far too assertive. My late grandmother used to put net curtains over the berries once they had set but the blackbirds used to sneak underneath and help themselves.
ReplyDeleteI think the mark of good customer service is how they deal with things when stuff goes wrong. It sounds like Marshalls were good. I hope that you get loads.
Yes birds are a problem - I shall be buying some netting
DeleteI brought a few canes last year and it was lovely just picking them has I went by. I remember my Mum having a big row of raspberry and making jam. I shall look and see how my rasperry canes are doing when I look around the garden later. We have blue sky but we had thick fog earlier on.
ReplyDeleteHazel 🌈🌈
My canes are budding but I am not cutting old wood just yet. Spotted violets in flower in the wild garden spring is on its way.
Delete🌈🌈
Lovely to have violets - none here sadly
DeleteThose look to be very neat raspberries in the picture. I used to have some but they were too unruly and too delicious for the local wildlife. I shall admire yours x
ReplyDeleteThey tend to "walk"unless kept under control and will need netting
Deletemy favorite berry thankfully my neighbor has a hill full of them and offer us to pick all we wanted. I have 5 quarts in the freezer.
ReplyDeleteCathy
wow - that's a good neighbour to have.
DeleteRaspberries are one of my favorite fruits. I found a very old large patch of raspberries growing in the woods (100 years ago farm land) and they are delicious. Only the birds and I are eating these raspberries. I'm tempted to dig up some canes and plant them on my property.
ReplyDeleteYou are really transforming that small lot to a magnificent garden. Can't wait to see what spring will bring.
ReplyDeleteIt's exciting to think of raspberries from your own garden! I think it will be wonderful come summer. I love raspberries, too!
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ReplyDeleteYou can't beat a good raspberry!
ReplyDeleteRaspberries are my favourite fruit. We have 6 autumn fruiting canes at the allotment and picked fruit regularly last year. I think we were lucky that the birds didn't beat us to it. We did miss a lot during the 2 weeks I had a painful back though. I was gutted when I could finally visit and they had all gone too soft to pick 😭
ReplyDeleteHow I love red raspberries. We had a field of them, as children.
ReplyDeleteOh I hope they do produce fruit. I have tried a couple of times, but the deer seem to eat anything I grow. I tried blueberries once and had a few growing and yes, the deer got them! Sigh
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