Alys Fowler on how to tame the fruit that likes to move around your garden – and which varieties to choose
The Guardian’s product and service reviews are independent and are in no way influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative. We will earn a commission from the retailer if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.
I have a huge hole in my garden. It’s my fault it’s there. I decided there were too many raspberries and, after what I thought was a judicious edit, I found I’d left a gap. Having pressed everyone to grow raspberries in their borders, I fear you may have the same problem.
Raspberries like to run about the place and constantly have to be tamed into one spot. They are also shallow-rooting for a perennial, so you need something that can take that sort of competition.
If you find raspberries are trying to take over your garden, one solution is to dig a small trench about 30cm deep around them. Then, when the runners do their thing, you can slice them off. This trick works well for bamboo, too (and anything else that spreads in such a manner).
If a trench proves unsightly, line it with thick plastic sheeting or lawn edging. If your patch is such that you can hoe or even mow between rows, this is another solution. Hoeing only really works on very young spring growth; otherwise, you’ll have to pull them up.
There is one big issue with keeping raspberries tightly bound for too long. Raspberries are woodland edge plants that head towards the sun; they sucker, sending up new canes as part of the natural succession of the forest edge. If you keep them in one spot permanently, they tend to exhaust the soil of micronutrients. This causes them stress and they tend to become diseased. If you want to keep them in one spot, you must replenish the soil by topdressing with leaf mould and homemade compost in autumn and spring.
Alternatively, if you have space, let them move around. You don’t have to let them take over, but you can let them wander to new spots. They will stay healthy and productive for longer.
If you find they are taking over, resort to hoeing or mowing off new canes in spring. If you want to move them to an entirely new spot, rather than letting them wander, do this from November to March, when all the leaves have dropped and they are dormant.
Raspberries do best in soils that are fertile, moisture-retentive and slightly acidic; they particularly dislike waterlogged or chalky soils. If your soil is likely to get very wet, plant your raspberries on a ridge, so that the water can drain away from their roots.
I’ve grown a number of raspberries over the years, but I keep coming back to Malling Jewel as a compact, mid-season summer variety. For those with a bit more space, Glen Ample is lovely: good flavour (great for jam), very heavy-cropping and spineless. I like Tulameen for late-season berry delight, although it’s not very heavy-cropping. Finally, there’s All Gold, a delicious, yellow autumn variety that melts as you pick it. There’s a lot of hype around Rubus occidentalis ‘Black Jewel’ , which is a North American species that has delicious black fruit in midsummer and behaves more like a blackberry than a raspberry – be aware that it likes to take over.
As for the hole: the urge to run to the garden centre to find anything in flower to put in the space is strong, but I will resist. Autumn soils are damp enough that rhubarb will transplant easily, and it’s an excuse to divide my mammoth plant. I think it will look handsome in front of the canes, the red of the stems complementing the summer berries. This should also force the raspberries to explore along the fence, rather than reach out into the bed.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoKyaqpSerq96wqikaKSZm7KiusOsq7KklWR%2FcX2VaKqeqF9ngXC0zrBkraddoLKmvIyrmKyokpq%2Fs7XErGSrrZ6jtq%2BzjJqjsqtdm7y4uMSr