Raspberry in Pots 26 August 2016 at 7:15AM in Greenfingered MoneySaving 1 reply 769 views

dogstarheaven

Are they worth growing at all?

ATM, I've had success with them in my 6' x5' x 0.5' raised bed (on concrete) this year but it was only for this year only as they were from my now abandoned allotment last year. I'm finding them rather unwieldy due to their growth rate where they're all a bit too tall, esp. now they've sent all these new runners.

I've only achieved about 1.5kg from about 10-13 plants but these ones are the dark purple ones that I ordered about 6 years ago, and am a bit reluctant to let them go. I don't find them any sweeter/different than the normal coloured ones and I can have access to some from a friend. I just like my own where I can have ease of access to fruit as it's not that practical to be picking someone else's when I have to pack them carefully and go on a bus journey with them too (inevitably some do get squashed and can be a bit messy esp. if you have have at least 10 x more than the shop-bought punnet amount!)

I didn't have much else to grow in the bed as the plants took up most of them room with their casting shade etc. I did have a few other plants but they weren't as successful.

What do you reckon I should do with them, would they be okay to grow in a deep trough, say about 3 plants each? I would be growing them with support to a fence.

TheGardener

Raspberries are a shallow rooted plant so don't seem to mind shallow soil - and spread - as you know - by runner and most varieties are pretty vigorous. I should imagine you can grow them in a raised bed but they will be high maintenance as they will become congested and need feeding to fruit well. If you have the maintenance time I guess they will work ok.