Growing raspberries has been easy here in Galway.
Raspberry was one of the first soft fruit bushes we planted here in our rocky meadow.
They were quickly joined by gooseberries, blackcurrants, loganberries and a solitary redcurrant bush.
Apart from the redcurrant bush, the soft fruit bushes have been planted nearly four years now, but last year was my first big raspberry harvest.
I was able to make enough jam to make us self-sufficient in jam for the year and I gave plenty away as well.
In fact, we are just about to finish our last jar of raspberry jam. It’s a good job we love it.
It’s early June now, and judging by the flowers on the raspberry bushes it looks like we can look forward to a bumper harvest again.
Growing raspberries has been a pure joy. They seem to love this rocky ground and are happily rooting themselves all over the place.
I give them a drink of my own nettle tea every couple of weeks and I’d swear that results in even more fruit.
Picking them regularly also helps encourage production.
If like me, you use the one for me, one for the basket rule of fruit picking you will have a great time doing it.
Our raspberry bushes are so productive they are making a bit of a nuisance of themselves in the veggie garden.
With their horizontal roots, they run from the fence where I planted them under the gravel path and then shoot up in the vegetable beds.
If you live in an area like this, with its Burren landscape, limestone flags, poor soil and lots of rocks you learn to grow what survives and growing raspberries has been a real success.
So much so that I have recently planted another area with raspberries. Not just for the fruit – we are going to be drowning in it but also to provide a hedge.
Raspberries grow quickly and provide a lovely fruity hedge so we decided to put some of those surplus pop-up plants to good use.
I also planted some dog roses between them and so far they all seem to be surviving.
I did discover that taking up raspberry plants and planting them straight into another piece of ground doesn’t work so well – even with what seems like a good deal of roots attached.
For some reason when you put them straight into the ground they seem to wilt and die even when planted immediately.
Instead, I plant them in pots and leave them there until I am sure they are thriving and then plant them out.
I am no expert and simply learning as I go along but this has the best success rate.
If you are thinking of growing raspberries I’d say do it. They look great and provide a beautiful soft fruit which is delicious as a fruit dessert or jam.
The best way to eat them though is straight from the bush.
You can’t beat the taste of fresh raspberries as you work. It’s a lovely healthy feeling to eat your way around the garden.
Bye for now.
Grace
P.S. If anyone has any ideas about how to use surplus raspberries I’d love to hear them.
MORE FROM MY GALWAY GARDEN
If you like your eggs fresh go see hens ducks and all things fowl.
For flower power visit my post on growing flowers.
For butterfly lovers visit ‘the butterfly garden.‘
If like me, you are interested in permaculture read this.
Recent Comments