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Inheriting a garden 😃

raymondkeller39raymondkeller39 Posts: 2
in Problem solving
We have very recently (19th December) moved house,inheriting a third of an acre garden and although I’m fairly ok with lots of stuff, there is a large summer fruiting raspberry patch which hasn’t been pruned in a while,when can I cut back the old stems as I used to do mine after they had fruited? Will it be safe to do it now? Or wait till spring?
Many thanks 
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  • Pete.8Pete.8 Billericay, EssexPosts: 9,850
    If they are summer fruiting then leave the canes or you'll get no fruit. Then cut the canes that have fruited this year to the ground and leave the new canes that grew this year to give fruit for next year.

    If it's an autumn raspberry then they fruit on new canes, and yes, you could cut all the canes down to the ground now.

    Not easy to identify which is which (summer fruiting or autumn fruiting).
    My autumn raspberries are ready from July until the frosts.

    Congrats on your new home - hope you have many happy years there :)
    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • FairygirlFairygirl west central ScotlandPosts: 48,902
    I can't offer any advice other than to say the same as @Pete.8, but good luck with your new plot @raymondkeller39 :)
    I've often been tempted to grow rasps as I like them much better than strawbs, but I'm not sure I have a suitable site. Is there one you'd recommend @Pete.8, bearing in mind that I'm in prime 'raspberry growing country' up here ?  ;)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....


  • bédébédé Surrey Hills, acid greensand.Posts: 1,259
    edited 3 January
    The standard recommendation for a newly inherited garden is to look and watch only for the first 12m.  If you are a tad lazy you can interpret that very literally.

    Something like raspberries need a decision.  I would cut out any canes that have obviously fruited in earlier years.  Be a bit light on the job.  Keep the younger looking canes.

    There is nothing like a real local raspberry grower to show you.  Try and seek one out.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Billericay, EssexPosts: 9,850
    You should be able to grow fab raspberries @Fairygirl
    As I'm sure you know many were developed in Scotland.

    I had Glen Moy as an early fruiter - exceptional flavour, but mine seemed to get viruses, so I dug them up 2 years ago, left the ground for 12 months to make sure everything was gone and recently planted Malling Jewel (an early variety) which has better virus resistance. I should get a few berries from the small canes this year.

    I also have Joan J as an autumn raspberry - berries are ready here from mid-July until the weather gets bad.
    Polka was the other variety I'd considered.

    So between the two varieties I get raspberries from June until late October.
    Along with my blackcurrants, blackberry, blueberries and strawberries I'm self-sufficient in the soft-fruit department :)
    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • FairygirlFairygirl west central ScotlandPosts: 48,902
    Yes - it's prime conditions for them @Pete.8 , although the main growers are further east - Perthshire in particular.  :)
    Thanks for that info though.  I wonder what the problem was with the G. Moy - it's a well known variety.  I've heard Polka mentioned a few times, so I might look at that one too.
    I sometimes look at the various suppliers up here, but I never quite make a decision. Perhaps this will be the year.... ;)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....


  • punkdocpunkdoc Sheffield, Derbyshire border.Posts: 13,012
    If i am driving through Perthshire, in the season, I often stop to buy some fresh raspberries, gorgeous. 
    There are ashtrays of emulsion,
    for the fag ends of the aristocracy.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Billericay, EssexPosts: 9,850
    I think my Glen Moy had 'raspberry bushy dwarf virus' where the berries fall apart when they're picked and the leaves turn yellow in summer @Fairygirl
    Glen Moy is known to be susceptible - hopefully Malling Jewel will be more resistant.
    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • FairygirlFairygirl west central ScotlandPosts: 48,902
    edited 3 January
    Thanks @Pete.8. I feel this could be a day for 'perusing'.... ;)

    I love rasps @punkdoc, but I don't like strawbs much, so I don't know why I grow them!
    I gave away many plants last year, and some are just planted in gaps and the birds have them. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....


  • thevictorianthevictorian Posts: 722
    With summer fruiting raspberries you can often easily tell as mentioned above, which have fruited, by the dried fruits on the end. I would remove these to start with and then see where you are at. You can then remove the weaker spindly growth to open things up more. Even if they are actually autumn fruiting raspberries you have you can still happily remove any canes with dried fruit without doing any damage.


    The severe drought in the south east this year produced a really great crop of raspberries this year, not as good normal but the heat and dry weather didn't really bother them (or the currants and gooseberries) which was unexpected. The blackberries and wine berries on the other hand were awful.
  • bédébédé Surrey Hills, acid greensand.Posts: 1,259
    My universal rule of pruning is: soon after flowering.  

    I works well for raspberries and clematis.  Onset of winter gives you a bit more time.  It doesn't quite capture the complications of summer pruning of fruit trees
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
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