Am I going to regret planting raspberries in a large mixed raised bed?

[Cathpot]

Just bought some Autumn raspberries - excited about lack of pruning as have summer ones at the moment. I was just about to plant them in the back of a big raised bed where I grow all my salad etc and read about how invasive they are. Am I about to unleash a raspberry plague on my growing space?

[Starman16]

You will need to regularly dig out the new canes as they pop up to keep them contained - on the plus side lots of knew raspberry plants for free! But yes not as low maintenance as they seem.

[Starman16]

Arrgh *new not knew!! Not with it this morning

[dreamingofsun]

mine keep escaping from their bed into the asparagus and strawberry ones. i hadn't realised what a nightmare they are. i keep digging them up, but i'd keep them as far away from other permanent things as possible

[Cathpot]

Bugger. I need to rethink as that's my space for salad etc and it's really deep and lovely as I can see them going bonkers. Anyone managed to grow them in pots?

[BeachysFlipFlops]

Can you dig a trench and stop paving stones in to effectively divide the space?

[BeachysFlipFlops]

Drop paving stones in

[Cathpot]

I could - how deep is raspberry proof?

[bookbook]

my raspberry canes are coming up between york stone slabs about 15' away from the row I have....

[DoreenLethal]

I don't have a problem with mine; I bought non spiky ones so that I could still get in and dig out any suckers. I just chop them down at the end of the season no problem. Joan J I think was the variety.

I've had them in for 8 years and a quick slice of the spade gets any out that I don't want. I find that the neighbour's ones which are the spiky ones sucker more and have often found them in my rasp patch - these get dug out immediately.

[Cathpot]

Ok, thanks. I'll have a think before I plant them- they need big pots according to google so I'll have to buy some if I go down that route.

[shovetheholly]

I don't find them too bad to keep in check, but you do have to exercise fairly constant vigilance. I think I'd keep them away from salad simply because lovely succulent leaves are unlikely to be good bedfellows with such a rugged and thuggish crop. There's also potential shading to consider.

They really can thrive in quite dark spaces - I grew them for a while in the horrible, dank, very shaded area at the end of my garden and they were rampant. So they are good for otherwise difficult corners, and it seems to make sense to use them there rather than in premium growing space IYSWIM.

[Lighteningirll]

I had the genius idea of planting my raspberry canes in the three foot gap between the greenhouse and the wall dead space but pretty sunny and just about accessible scratch that turns out to be barely accessible and only had one raspberry last year [crying]

[Cathpot]

LighteningIrl- I managed to plant my summer raspberries behind a bed if strawberries figuring I could just step on paving stones put down between them- which I can. What I can't do however, is easily net the strawberries without blocking my access to the raspberries- so I lost list of them to birds. Pfft.

I am still dithering on Autumn raspberries- largely as I don't want to have to go and buy pots and then find somewhere to put them. The raised bed is empty over winter so I'm thinking I could get in there and hoick out strays reasonably easily. Too busy fielding back to back guests at the moment, lots of bags of horse poo waiting to be sorted out. I have a guest free day tomorrow so I'm going to make sure I get outside.

[Lighteningirll]

My raised beds are full of purple sprouting broccoli it's grown rather more than I expected I can't bear to pull any up but can't grow anything else it's feast or famine with my gardening skills

[Cathpot]

Is that easy to grow? I quite fancy that if it is. I had a rocket explosion last year - it bolted , flowered and then enthusiastically self seeded between all the paving.

[Lighteningirll]

Really easy I grew from seed in the greenhouse planted out late summer/early autumn and it's about three foot high now and I'm picking it every day. I did plant far too much tho as I just couldn't believe it would survive winter. I've also got a whole row of sweetheart cabbages I planted at the same time my leeks however are down to two survivors

[Cathpot]

Sounds like my kind of plant. May be I should just turn the raised bed over to fiesty edibles and let them slog it out. I am seriously considering lobbing in rhubarb as well in a devil may care attitude to raised bed etiquette.

[Lighteningirll]

My rhubarb is in a random not very sunny bit against a fence I just pile manure on it in spring and it goes mad I wouldn't waste a nice warm raised bed on it. I am giving up on potatoes in the raised beds as well they never grow properly I don't know what I am doing wrong. This summer it will be courgette, strawberries onions and leeks I might plant more cabbage as well.

[Cathpot]

I've got rhubarb tucked along a shady wall but I think it's too dry for it there, it's not enthusiastic anyway. I've ended up using the raised bed for spring onions, salad, peas and some nasturtiums. Beans like it in there but I don't really like beans so that's a waste. I like shovetheholly's shady places suggestion as I don't have easy to find space in the sun. Do I need to separate the raspberry canes into single canes when I plant them? I've bought 3 pots and there are about 6 canes in each all bundled together.

[PurpleWithRed]

Yes they will be better separated; and you do need to cut them down to the ground in early spring - not exactly pruning, but you can't just leave them to rampage. On the other hand, is it possible to have too many raspberries?

[Notgrumpyjustquiet]

I've grown rasps successfully in large buckets, grow bags, etc but yes keep them self contained because they will pop up all over the place. The new shoots are what they will fruit on next year (summer fruiting ones anyway) while the old stems die away once they've fruited so you don't want to be chopping them all back all the time because eventually you will have none left - if they're unproductive it could be that you're pruning them wrong, essentially taking out the new growth that would bear fruit in future.

[Notgrumpyjustquiet]

Yes, separate the canes - each one will grow. I would plant about 6" apart in a row as best you can so you can get to them easily. A quick Google should tell you what to do with them, it differs slightly for summer fruiting ones compared to autumn fruiting ones.

[Cathpot]

Thanks. I unwrapped the raised bed today and about 100 slugs. I'll separate canes and plant some in the bed and some in pots. I agree that 'too many raspberries' is not something I'm likely to say. Ever. Although possibly I will revise that next year when I am rootling strays ones out. Lovely lovely guest free sunny morning combination , planting seeds and trying to embrace the kids 'helping' , hope some of you also got out in the sun.

[Lighteningirll]

I'm really struggling with slugs apparently they are worse in raised beds? I've made dh dug a small new bed for peas and beans and edged it with small pebbles. We do slug patrol on a rainy morning but I can't use slug pellets as ddog is stupid enough to eat them.

[Cathpot]

I've ordered some nematodes to come in the next couple of days as beer traps etc weren't cutting it last year and I don't want the slug pellets near things we are going to eat. The nematodes really seem to make a difference , I might even go for two treatments this year.