This was the first bowl of Raspberries from here at the bungalow - a few from the couple of canes that were against the fence here when I came and a few more from the new raspberry bed I planted up less than 2 years ago in Autumn 2021.
Since then I've had 5 more bigger bowls full and I've been very pleasantly surprised to have so many after how poor the canes looked during last summers really hot weather.
The canes in the half of the bed furthest from the fence and magnolia tree are looking 100% better than those closer and I need to make sure to give them a lot more water whenever I can to keep them going.
In the book Food In England by Dorothy Hartley I found this which is part of Thomas Tussers 500 Points for Good Husbandry written way back in the middle of the C16.
"Wife, into the garden, and set me a plot,
With strawberry roots, of the best to be got:
Such growing abroad, among thorns in the wood,
Well chosen and picked, prove excellent good.
The barberry, raspberry, and gooseberry too,
Look now to be planted, as other things do:
The gooseberry, raspberry and roses all three,
With strawberries under them, trimly agree.
Were strawberries really once grown under raspberry canes? Seems odd if they were, as strawberries need more sun than raspberries which do best when the weather isn't too hot. They do really well in Scotland and are bred there, with many of the names are of the varieties starting with "Glen" (Scottish Valley) ...Glen Moy, Glen Ample and Glen Prosen are three that I know.
Back in the Knodishall smallholding days we grew a huge fruit cage full of raspberries all in three long rows, they sold really well of course and it was one of the everyday summer jobs for me to pick and put out for sale.
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| Picture from nearly 10 years ago of the smallholding fruit cage with long rows of canes and redcurrants in the foreground |
At the end of the growing season it was also my job to cut out all the canes that had finished fruiting and weave the new canes in between the wires that held them upright. It was a job that I enjoyed even though it took a while to do because once the old were cut out it all looked so tidy and right ready for the next year.
It won't take me so long to cut out the canes here in my less-than-4 metres-long bed!
Back Tomorrow
Sue
I planted half a dozen canes on the bank when we first arrived, not realizing how much drier it is here, and how hot the yard and bank gets (south-facing). As we have our own water supply, in hot summers I have to be very careful with water husbandry and so they need more water than they've been getting. I need to carry on clearing weeds (something I started on a few days ago), putting down FYM and then a mulch. I'll get there eventually! The annoying thing is since I took the ancient membrane up on the bank, many wild raspberries have sprung through and are doing well - but what fruit there is is tiny and they need to be out of my plantings!
ReplyDeleteYou have had some good pickings anyway.
The raspberries were one of the things I missed from smallholding days so it's been good to have some here.
DeleteI've only ever seen wild raspberries in Scotland - too dry in Suffolk
Lost all last years this year as well as 5 new ones. No idea why. Planted a few strawberries instead just to get fruit. Bramble so far, as stoic as ever!
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame your raspberries didn't survive. I'm surprised how well mine have done.
DeleteBrother in Law's Strawberries have finished now - hope he never decides to clear the bed away as he doesn't eat many himself due to the type 2 diabetes!
I had to google barberry! Looks like something I'd like to plant. I live near where raspberries grow commercially. I love the sight of the thousands of rows of raspberry canes in the fields. There are loads of PYO farms but I get enough from the allotment and my mum's garden :-)
ReplyDeleteMust be good to see fields full of raspberries,
DeleteWe don't have any PYO raspberries anywhere close which is a shame, one I used to pick at close by in the 80's closed during the time we were over by the coast
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Lovely memories Sue. I think raspberries are my favourite fruit. As a child it was my pleasure to pick the soft fruit from the bottom of our suburban garden. I planted 6 canes of autumn raspberries in 1991 in my brand new garden (we picked enough to decorate cakes made by my mum and served on my wedding day in September 1992 when I also served English sparkling wine from Denbies vineyard - always ahead of the curve when it comes to food and drink!). No surprise when I took on the allotment in May 2001 that I planted summer and autumn raspberry canes straight away and autumn raspberries were one of the first crops I planted here too. Last year I thought I had lost them to the hot dry weather but as soon as the autumn rain arrived they started producing and carried on until Christmas so I made raspberry and pistachio chocolate brownies on Christmas Day. I still have to pinch myself that I inherited a wooden fruit cage here, although the raspberries are growing as happily outside the cage as they are in. I am still in a quandary about my strawberries. I think I am going to give them one last chance in the old tin bath raised up on bricks and see if that protects them from the mice. Always the triumph of hope over experience! Thanks for the note about the goats - would love to know more about your goat-herding days. Sarah in Sussex
ReplyDeleteSummer raspberries always needed covering but when we started growing a smaller bed of autumn raspberries as well they didn't get bothered by birds at all.
DeleteI loved my goats - missed them so much when we had to stop keeping them.
It's amazing how the more you pick, the more you get. I thought I'd lost all my canes last year when the gardener brutally cut them back with a weed eater. I was pleasantly surprised to see they regenerated and have probably benefited from such dire treatment..
ReplyDeleteThey get hidden behind next years new canes and it's a surprise just how many I've found
DeleteWe used to pick wild raspberries when we were children but I haven't seen any for years.
ReplyDeleteThere you go - Climate Change!!
DeleteWe have never grown raspberries - too much hard work! Our strawberries have struggled here in the new place as they just don't get enough sun. We may have to move them next year.
ReplyDeleteNot hard work at all - once they are planted it's all easy
DeleteLoads of raspberries here too this year. We don't even bother to cover them any more as there are enough for both us and the blackbirds. We begrudge the pigeons, but they seem to have stopped trying to get them.
ReplyDeleteI have just enough for me - perfect- glad I netted them as there are several blackbirds around
DeleteAs a child in the 50s (goodness, was it that long ago???) our house was next to a line of garages; behind the garages was waste ground which was just a 'pop-over-the-fence' from our garden - and it was full of raspberries. They had no care at all, yet produced fruit year after year. Most of the fruit was eaten by me and my friends who regularly made scrumping expeditions throughout the summer. Thrilling stuff!
ReplyDeleteLovely memories - waste ground rarely exists now - it just gets yet another house built on it!
DeleteOur neighbour gave me some raspberry canes at the end of last year when he was thinning his huge patch out, we have lots of greenery on the former 'twigs' this year but no berries yet. I don't know if they do produce on their first year (I'm a veggie rather than fruit grower) but I guess if they do these must be autumn fruiting raspberry canes.
ReplyDeleteIf they are prickly they might be Autumn fruiting . If smooth canes more likely to be summer fruiting and they shouldn't have fruit in the first year but on the new canes that will appear between now and the winter. They are pruned at different times too - would your neighbour know when he got fruit from them.
DeleteI've never succeeded with raspberries in this climate, too hot too soon in summer, so I buy them, an expensive treat when they're available. They don't ship well, so they're not common. All you guys with tons of them! Raspberry envy here!
DeleteI cont know anything about growing raspberries so TQ for the information. It's often windy here in west Wales, how do they stand up to those conditions?
ReplyDeleteAlison in Wales
They would be fine and could be tied into a frame work or between two wires to keep them upright. They need water but don't like wet feet - in the Hovel in the Hills books Elizabeth West grew them on a raised bank
DeleteApologies, it should say don't know!
ReplyDeleteAlison x
Your raspberries have done well and they look delicious. Having both raspberries and strawberries from your brother in law is perfect.
ReplyDeleteI just hope he doesn't stop growing them!
DeleteWow - your raspberries look delicious. I struggle to grow any sort of berry. I suppose it's due to the deer - ha ha
ReplyDelete