Planting Raspberry Canes

The main job at the allotment this weekend was to plant out some new Raspberry Canes that I'd ordered. First I dug a trench in the soil that was about 2 spades wide by a spade deep (see above). I then filled this trench with manure, as apparently Raspberrys like a good rich soil to grow in. I then raked the soil back over the top of the trench so it was level again.


I ordered 10 canes of Polka Raspberrys from Kings Seeds (although I only got sent 9 canes!). They are an Autumn variety, so they should compliment my existing Summer Raspberrys that I already have on the other plot. The idea being that it should extend my growing season of Raspberrys, giving me a supply of them for a much longer period. The canes were delivered as bare-roots (see above) bundled in a large brown paper sack.


I planted them in a row into the prepared ground where the manure-filled trench was, with their roots spaced out as best I could. There is some weed suppressing material next to them (on the left of the photo above), which will form a permanent path.


This is how the back half of the newer plot looks now, with several piece of black plastic covering the ground for the winter. The courgette plants are just to the right of where the above photo was taken, and they are still producing courgettes - picked another 3 this weekend. I also picked some more Rocket, Broccoli, Raspberrys (from the summer varitety!) and finally pulled up the last of the carrots.