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Grow to eat: plant delicious autumn-fruiting raspberries this weekend

Fresh raspberries - Moment RF
Fresh raspberries - Moment RF

Now is the time to buy and plant bare-root raspberry canes. Plants are available year-round in pots but bare-roots are cheaper and easier to plant (try otterfarm.co.uk). In our house raspberries are the most-eaten fruit, enjoyed in Eton mess, smoothies, with fat-free yogurt and maple syrup and crushed into seasonal cocktails. 

Summer-fruiting raspberries – which crop on canes grown the year before – have left a sour taste in my mouth. My allotment came with a row of seven unknown cultivars that all crop in an early-July glut. They’re annoying to prune, too, secateurs having to winkle out old canes and ties from between the emerging new canes. It’s not difficult but it isn’t fun. 

Determined to start again, I’ve ripped them all out to be replaced with autumn-fruiting varieties. These crop slowly on new wood from late July and continue until the frosts. Pruning is simpler, too – cut everything to the ground after cropping in late autumn.

'All Gold' AGM - Credit: Chris Burrows/GAP Photos
'All Gold' AGM Credit: Chris Burrows/GAP Photos

To help me decide which to grow I turned to Twitter. Professional gardener Louise Dowle (@loudowle) recommends ‘Joan J’ (AGM). She lets some canes “double crop” in spring before cutting them back. Retailers say ‘Polka’ (AGM), with large fruit and yields, is likely to become very popular, confirmed by gardeners Lucy Clements (@Lucy_Clements_) and Liz Smith (@lizmunstone). ‘All Gold’, a novel yellow variety, is also a big seller. 

Small space growers can try a single plant in a large container or try dwarf Ruby Beauty (thompson-morgan.com). Personally, I’ll be trialling ‘Polka’ and ‘Joan J’. By growing easy autumn raspberries I hope we’ll be the ones going abroad this year – and coming home for dessert. 

Find Jack’s Garden Blog of the Year at jackwallington.com. Follow him on Twitter  @jackwallington and Instagram @jackjjw