Raspberry Work

we live in an area where a lot of raspberries are grown: on the edge of the Salish Sea in the Skagit Valley of northwest washington state.

we've been working with the Morgan family at their farmstand near Blanchard Washington for several seasons, where there's a lovely raspberry patch just a couple of years old

we have come to love the raspberry very dearly

besides the wonderful food, the plants have a friendly and mothering or sisterly quality which is reflected in the herbalism of raspberry leaf (red raspberry is a favorite for use during pregnancy)
the raspberry is a pleasure to be around at any time of year (tho the blackcaps are thorny, unlike most raspberries)

regarding the berries themselves: everyone should enjoy plenty of a variety of fresh fruits and berries. only the wealthy could afford to buy all the berries necessary at store prices (and god bless 'em too!) but cost aside, you want the best and they're not usually available in most stores. incorporate farmers markets, u-picks and planting your own berries into your healthy lifestyle.

we try to plant raspberries as often as we can for gardening clients, and we use basically the same methods for home gardeners as are shown here.

photo by yes-I

this patch at the farmstand has 3 rows of about 60 yards in length (i'll check that). there's a cedar post at each end of a row, with berry wire between and metal support posts for the wire spaced along its length. they're all summer (single) bearing red raspberries, about 3 varieties are in there. the berries are for commercial sale (last year it was a u-pick, occasionally we pick for a client or for a restaurant) and home gorging.

we want to see the same prolificity next year as we did this last season. so now is the time to cut out the canes which fruited last year, tie up the canes for next year, weed, and amend the beds

photo by yes-I

this is what it feels like up in the canes right now. imagine a nice gusty breeze too. the twine-tied parts are done and are coming out

photo by yes-I
just cutting out the old ones with the hand pruners

it's helpful that the canes to be removed are tied together, as that way it's not necessary to try to determine for each cane whether it is last year's or next year's, one simply cuts all the ones which are tied into the bundle
less head-scratchin', fewer errors

yes that's nice organic cow-pucky on the ground

here's the debris-pile from the first row:
(took a couple hours to cut out for one row)
maybe i should burn 'em

photo by yes-I

--yes-I