Our poor raspberry plants were in need of a bit of care and attention. Of the ten we have in the fruit bed, three seem to have died this year before ever getting very far, and the remainders have become straggly as they’ve waited to be cut back. The plant on the right was a single stick when it arrived two years ago. Now it’s a dozen strong branches up to five feet long.

Raspberries grow on the previous year’s new wood, so it’s important to cut down the plants every winter once fruiting is over. Admittedly we’re a bit late this year, but I headed out with the clippers and cut them down to around 6in from the soil. They look a lot neater now.

Pruning the raspberries

We also managed to bag a couple of bargain raspberry canes at Homebase, which were on a ‘buy two get one free’ offer this weekend, so have used them to replace the ones that didn’t take. Fortunately these were already two years old, so should be ready to fruit in summer 2010.

Growing fruit seems to take a lot more planning, patience and time than vegetables, but where raspberries are concerned, it’s well worth it.

Related posts:

1. Planting raspberry canes
2. Raspberries
3. Three years of raspberry growth