Grumpy was able to make his Raspberry vines much more accessible for picking and more neat to look at. He did this by extracting the "wild" plants that had erupted outside the line established by the wire trellis. Grumpy "deeded" 10 or 12 of these extraneous plants to the Swede Queen of Fort Straw. [Was there some ulterior motive involved, like some Raspberry freezer jam? Or maybe a Raspberry pie? No, Grumpy really will just enjoy seeing some "offspring" of his Raspberries lavishing in a more friendly environ than that here at Grumpy's Castle.] Later another 12-15 plants were extracted and given to the Sassy Offspring-Known-as-Anonymous.
Raspberries are, by nature, quite aggressive in spreading out in all directions. They do this by what are called "rhizomes". These are lateral roots that emanate from a well-established central plant. As a matter of fact, the Raspberry plants now claimed by Grumpy "emigrated" across from the next door neighbor's garden several years ago by rhizome activity!
Good plant husbandry dictates that the bearing plants should be about 3 feet apart so the 10-12 inch long lateral branches, on which the summer's fruit develops (see left), have enough space to "see" sunshine and air circulation. This space also makes it much easier to find and pick the berries.After digging up the extra plants, Grumpy used a spading fork to loosen the soil on both sides of the Raspberry row. This process resulted in incorporating into the soil some of the compost that Grumpy had used as a mulch on top of the row last year. Grumpy hopes that by loosening the soil on each side might discourage some of the rhizome activity. We'll see!
Finally, Grumpy spread some fresh compost (aged, chipper-shredded apple tree and rose prunings) on top of the freshly loosened soil. This row of Raspberries is sub-irrigated by means of a soaker hose that is buried just under the surface along the row of Raspberries. No water is lost by evaporation except through aspiration from the plants themselves.
Now, if Grumpy can stay out of trouble with the Grand Mother, he just might benefit by having a Raspberry pie later this summer!
I don't think your former neighbor ever cleaned up those raspberries as well as you have pictured here. Way to go!
ReplyDeleteYour compost consists primarily of wood chips? That's a lot of carbon. If you added grass clippings you would have a higher nitrogen content.
I've been reading that good fertilizer should include lime (like dolomite), phosphorus (like bonemeal), and trace elements could be provided by kelp meal. Only use a tiny amount of those, so that it doesn't even show when broadcast. Spread four times as much seed meal to get the micro-organisms and soil animals churning.
I'm planning to put together a mixture of this "complete organic fertilizer" for my vegetable garden this summer.
The sassy offspring would like to correct the notion that a mere 12-15 plants were deeded. In fact, Sassy's husband complained that he dug nearly 50 holes for the much desired raspberry vines. Curious daughter made her dad count them and came up with only 29. They are doing well and look similar in foliage and flowering as those in Grumpy's back yard. Ours were well fertilized with lamb and goat poo, of course!
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