How to Plant a Raspberry Patch at Home
This year I am excited to be adding raspberries to our farm. Let’s take a look at the types of raspberries you might want to grow, where to plant them, when is the best time to plant them, and how to set yourself up for success.
Planning on introducing raspberries to your home garden and not sure what to do? No problem. This guide will help beginners plant a raspberry patch and enjoy their own delicious, homegrown raspberries.
What are raspberries?
Raspberries are a hardy perennial plant that can grow well up to zone 3 (we are 3b). They grow on tall prickly canes.
While raspberry plants are perennials, the canes are not. The canes they put up one year will not fruit until the next year. Once it fruits, it will die and should be pruned in the fall.
What different types of raspberries are there?
While there are countless raspberry varieties, to help narrow down which kind you should plant, first choose when you want your raspberry to bear fruit. Some yield a crop in the spring, some all summer long, and others primarily in the fall.
Then there are different varieties in terms of color, going from yellow and reds to practically purple.
When choosing your raspberries, ask around to see what does well in your neck of the woods. I chose to plant “Anne” raspberries because I have heard they are not as susceptible to a horrid little fruit fly called the Spotted Wing Drosophila.
Lastly, you might want a particular flavor. Some raspberries are better for jam making, others for eating right off the plant.
Where Should I Plant Raspberries?
You’ve probably been on a walk and seen raspberries and blackberries growing wild in the woods. These are incredibly hardy plants that you can count on to make a go of it even in tough conditions. Still, plants will do better when you optimize their growing location.
Sun
As with all fruiting plants, a sunny location is a boon to raspberries! Choose a nice, full sun exposure with at least 6–8 hours of sunlight daily. They can survive in partial shade but the fruit will be smaller than it would be if the plant is in a sunny spot.
Soil
Raspberries can be pretty scrappy and can make it in most well-drained soils.
However, for best results, plant them in healthy, fertile soil with lots of good compost. It’s a good idea to add new organic matter or compost to your patch each year to keep it healthy.
Will I get raspberries the first year I plant them?
That depends.
If you plant fall-bearing raspberries right away in early spring, you may very well get a nice little crop in the fall.
Spring- and summer-yielding plants will most likely not bear fruit until the following year they are planted.
Where can I buy raspberry plants?
Nursery
Most local nurseries that carry perennials and shrubs will carry raspberries. However, unless you special order them, they will most likely come in gallon-sized pots which tend to be more expensive (more on that below).
You may also have fewer varieties available at your local nurseries; though, if you contact them well in advance, say the fall before you want to plant them, they may be able to special order them for you.
Online
Raspberries can also be purchased online from various vendors. This will give you the greatest variety of options.
Some things to keep in mind are making sure you pay attention to the hardiness zone as well as the shipping cost, which can add up quickly.
Propagating Raspberries
Another great way to get raspberry plants is by getting a few canes from a friend’s patch.
Raspberry plants send up suckers every year. Simply sever the root from the parent plant, dig out the sucker, then plant it where you like. It’s best to get a nice long piece of root with the plant.
Before you bring them home, give the plant roots a good once over to make sure they all look healthy and are free of fungal diseases.
Bare Root vs. Potted Raspberries
Raspberries can be purchased as bare-root plants or in pots. The benefit of potted plants is they are more mature and developed.
Bare root raspberries will basically look like a little stick with a small chunk of root. If you are growing raspberries propagated from someone else’s plant, these would be considered bare root.
Bare Root options are usually more affordable than the potted variety, but they do take longer to get established.
For a price comparison, I took a look at the variety I planted called “Anne.” At our local greenhouse, it was $30 for a one-gallon potted plant.
Online I found the same potted plant for $32. Or you could buy twenty five bare root plants for $125. That is only $5 per plant!
How to Plant a Raspberry Patch
Prepping the Soil
Clear away any grass from the planting site, and prepare the soil so it is loose and fluffy. Three feet is a pretty standard-width raspberry bed and will give the raspberries plenty of space to grow. Add in a good mix of compost.
How Far to Space Raspberries
Space the plants 2–3 feet apart. Purple raspberries and red raspberry plants should be 2 feet apart. Black raspberries should be spaced 3 feet apart. Yellow raspberries should be spaced 2–3 feet apart.
Rows should be spaced 4–6 feet apart.
How Deep to Plant Raspberries
If you are planting a bunch of bare-root plants, it might be easiest to till up a long bed where you intend to plant.
Next, dig individual holes or a trench that goes down at least as deep as the raspberries’ roots, or a minimum of 6 inches.
Place your plants or canes into the hole. Add a scoop of compost and, if you have it, a small scoop of wood ash to help balance the soil ph.
Cover well with soil and tamp the new plants in.
Watering
Before you plant the raspberries, give them a good long soak with the hose and let them sit for 20–30 minutes before taking them out of the pot.
After the raspberries are planted, give them a nice long soak every few days if you haven’t had rain to keep them growing during dry spells.
Mulching Raspberries
After your plants are in, it’s a good idea to give them a nice thick layer of mulch about 6–8 inches deep. You can use straw, wood chips, etc.
Leave an un-mulched area around the canes of about 3 inches.
Trellising your Raspberry Patch
It is highly recommended that you put in a trellis right away with your raspberries to help control your plants. Raspberry patches can get pretty wild quickly.
Once berries are trellised, you should remove any canes that grow outside of the trellis and transplant them back inside the trellis boundaries.
This will make it easier for harvesting and will also keep the plants healthier as they will have good air circulation through the leaves.
There are a few different types of trellis you can do, the most simple being made from garden posts or t-posts.
Place T-Posts on either side of the start of the raspberry plan Dtingo the same on the opposite end of the planting. Add additional t-posts in between as necessary. You will do best with posts every six feet or so at a minimum.
Essentially you are outlining your planting with t-posts.
Run fencing wire or slightly thicker gauge wire down each side of the planting. It is best to do 2-3 lines of it. Starting with a lower length of wire, then one in the middle, and finally one at the top.
It’s hard to explain in writing but you can check out the video above to get a better idea.
More from the Garden
- How to Harvest Garlic Scapes
- Growing Ground Cherries
- Ruth Stout Gardening Method
- DIY Rooting Hormone
Sources
- Rodale’s Garden Answers, Multiple Authors
- Wisconsin Garden Guide by Jerry Minnich
- The Self Sufficient Gardener by John Seymour
