Autumn fruiting raspberries

[didireallysaythat]

I planted about half a dozen raspberry canes a couple of years ago in the end of a new raised bed (the bed is around 2m by 4m). The first year a few died, the others were OK. Fine I thought. Last year they set their hearts on world domination. They have spread half way down the bed. The raspberries were great. But the rhurbarb (in the middle of the bed) and the strawberries (at the other end) were not impressed.

How do I stop them spreading ? Do I just dig up the ones in the wrong place ? I cut them down to the ground in November, and now I've got a dozen plus canes around 3-4 inches tall..

There are two types of raspberry: summer-fruiting and autumn-fruiting. They are pruned very differently, because summer-fruiting varieties fruit on the second year of growth, whereas autumn-fruiting ones fruit on the first year's growth. If yours are all autumn-fruiting, you need to chop them right down to the ground in the winter. When they start growing again, you can thin them to reduce overcrowding if you feel you have too many canes and it's all getting a bit congested.

This will help to keep them in check. Raspberries that are happy will still send up suckers all over, though - it's just what they do. You just pull these out (while wearing really good, thick gloves!!) Marking out a 'trench' line and digging along this over the growing season will get rid of some of the tendency to root all over. Some people even plant in large pots, though I can't imagine the raspberries react as well to this as being in open ground.