[alang]

Looking at planting some raspberries (autumn fruiting) and bramble bare roots for next season. Just wondering when i should be planting them. Also which variety of thornless bramble would you recommend for a sheltered sunny(ish) position at an elevation of around 600ft?

[doganjo]

Mine are all planted.  I've put them in a raised bed for protection, against a south west facing fence.

I have rasps, brambles, tayberries, can't remember the names of them all but there's a wide selection with full details of growing conditions on all the major garden/fruit websites.  I seem to remember Loch Maree and Adrienne of the thornless brambles but if you go on to GardenFocused.co.uk you can put your location in and it will help.

[Fleecewife]

Some years we get fruit from our autumn fruiting rasps and other years they are frosted long before the potential crop has reached the picking stage. We are further south than you, so how much of a crop you would get is an important consideration.


What I have noticed with brambles is that the thornless varieties, which are based on american cultivars I believe, are nowhere near as tasty as the thorny kind.  The fruit tends to be large but squashy.  On the other hand, thornless brambles are so much easier to handle and pick than those pesky thorny ones which try to trap you forever!


I would say start planting from next week onwards.

[Cheviot]

Fleecewife, I cannot grow summer fruiting rasps, but I have autumn fruiting rasps that fruit really well, but I treat them like summer fruiters, I don’t cut the canes down in winter, but in spring when they start to bud I just cut out any dead canes, they usually start to fruit in July and go through to first frosts.

[alang]

The reason i went for autumn fruiting rasps is because we get late frosts here in Moray (i'm 20 miles inland on a hill). We've had our first frosts already and they can last well into April. So the flowers could be damaged easily.

As for the brambles. I might just try the thornless and see what happens. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Just need to plant out my blueberries and blackcurrants now as well 

[Fleecewife]

Fleecewife, I cannot grow summer fruiting rasps, but I have autumn fruiting rasps that fruit really well, but I treat them like summer fruiters, I don’t cut the canes down in winter, but in spring when they start to bud I just cut out any dead canes, they usually start to fruit in July and go through to first frosts.

Hi Cheviot 

I'm surprised you can't grow summer rasps.  Ours are all mixed up and I don't do much to them at all except take out some of the dead canes.  I can tell the autumn fruits because they are larger and darker than the summer ones, but a bit more sporadic.

We have had our first frosts for the past few nights, -3 last night.  Our last frosts of spring can be into June, but we still get plenty of rasps alang