Give Raspberries a few years and they will start to take over. You’ll find their runners popping up all over the place. I found one last year on the ‘other side’ of the path to where my Raspberry patch was. With a small garden such as mine I have to keep them under control or run the risk of them taking vital nutrients from other plants.
In the Summer I was inundated by Raspberries. I tried everything to get rid of them. While I agree that Raspberries are indeed yummy and yes I can freeze them, I feel forced to cull them this Winter, if only in an effort to claw back some precious growing space.
So as part of my annual pruning of Autumn Raspberries I also dug up every other plant. I dug up any runners that had strayed too far from the patch, tightened the wires and straightened the supports.
Hopefully this Summer we’ll be back to more normal Raspberry production. But I’m sure in a few years I’ll be doing the same thing all over again.
Now you see it.
Now you don’t.
I decided to prune my Grape vine early since I may be slightly busy with a newborn baby come the end of November. So I’m trying to get organised and do some of my garden chores now.
It shouldn’t make any difference that I pruned it early as the leaves were starting to fall anyway. The only downside is that I don’t get to enjoy the beautiful Autumn colours of the leaves. Oh well.
I’ve written a longer post on how to prune a Grape vine here. This will tell you what system I’m using and how to do it.
Since I’ve been pruning the Grape vine it’s been producing very well and we had lots of Grapes this year, even though they were only really useful for Grape juice. I might consider planting another Grape vine and training it in a different way just to have experience of a different variety and training method. Now, I just need to magic up the space!
Does anyone have any recommendations on a nice white, seedless, eating Grape I could grow outdoors? I’m thinking about Perlette.
Do your Autumn-fruiting Raspberry canes look like this? Then it’s time to prune them. There’s not a moment to lose.
I don’t want to create panic or anything but this really is the time to prune Raspberries if you want a nice big Autumn crop. If you leave it any longer then the plant will start to put more and more energy into the existing canes when what you actually want is the plant to put its energy into this year’s growth, which will subsequently fruit.
I know that you can leave Autumn Raspberries unpruned and they will crop on the existing canes, just a little earlier. But isn’t that what Summer Raspberries do? Besides, I love my Autumn Raspberries.
Gorgeous handfuls of plump Raspberries in late August, September and October, you can’t beat it. My little boy couldn’t eat them fast enough! I pruned at this time last year and got a bumper crop so I’m doing it again.
And don’t forget the plants wouldn’t mind a nice mulch at this time of year too, rotted manure, home-made compost or wood chippings will do. Happy pruning!
