I thought strawberries were my favorite thing to grow. But red raspberries may be moving to first place.
I have no idea when we started picking them. I really should keep better records. They did struggle during the summer with the dry weather. The berries were few and small.
But with all our fall rains, they are now big, juicy and abundant!
I only have about eight plants, but we plan to extend the row next year. Rarely do the berries make it to the house. They are normally snacked on right off the bush.
But last week I was able to pick a pint and save them for muffins. Yummy! It is a thrill to pick fresh fruit from our garden in late October.
And maybe, best of all, the plants are perennial, take almost no care, and have few pests other then some beetle damage to the leaves and bees who love the berries as much as we do! Oh, well, they need to eat, too!
Besides red raspberries, we also have yellow raspberries which are also doing well. Our blueberry plants are trying to die, and succeeding. The blackberry plants have not decided to take off yet, hopefully next year. All of our berry plants are only a year or two old, so we are still learning.
Do you grow raspberries? Is it usual to have them this late in the season?
I have black red raspberries growing in my yard. I thought they were just red raspberries but it turns out that I had a mis-communication problem when I bought from the Amish farm stand. Sometimes I think I need to pick up a bit of PA Dutch to get by when shopping. :) There are various types of berries, those that harvest in the spring, those that harvest in the fall, and those that harvest in the spring and fall. I have a spring variety. I pulled so many berries off of my three little plants I was quite in awe of how well they produced! I made jam, froze some for smoothies, made a raspberry vinegar shrub(very tasty to drink), and of course ate out fell for two weeks straight. Mine are two years old, so next year I should get an even better crop. I would recommend the black red raspberries to add to you collection, they are very tasty and almost impossible to find in a grocery store.
ReplyDeleteMy kids brought me a bucket of red raspberries yesterday, and asked me to make a smoothie. I ate a good many of them! I did make a smoothies though, but added lots of vanilla ice cream to mask some of the seediness. =)
ReplyDeleteDid you have red raspberries in your scones at the tea party? I LOVED those scones!!! (I just assumed my kids didn't like them, and ate all of their scones too!)
All of my blueberry bushes have died. I'm planting more though, because I'm a HUGE fan of blueberries! All berries, really!
We have red raspberries too (in Ontario)and they're just finishing up. We also enjoy them right off the bush. It must be a strange year..normally they are done in September!
ReplyDeleteyes, we planted raspberries this spring. We got a few this summer, but none this fall. I'm envious of your muffins! Sorry I don't have any growing advice to share. . .
ReplyDeleteWe normally manage to have raspberries for 5-6 months of the year. Last year our first was in November and our last in May!! (southern hemisphere). Love it :-)
ReplyDeleteSadly our raspberries did not make it. We just never got berries after 3 years. Happy fo you with yur berries. Enjoy.
ReplyDeleteso happy for you with your raspberries. Ours did not make it, after 2 years they never got fruit, although the plant itself semed healthy. Enjoy
ReplyDeleteMany varieties of raspberry will keep bearing right up until a hard frost. Everbearing types are particularly reliable about having a fall harvest... although we often got a late crop off of our Willamettes, and those are only 'supposed' to have one season. Some years, I guess they didn't get the memo.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy this late-season harvest!
Miz Carmen
Here in England, we've got some raspberries still to be picked too. This is unusual for us but we've had a mildish autumn so far.
ReplyDeleteoh I love the muffins !!!!
ReplyDeletehave a good day
marylin from France
There are lots of different varieties, and some are a late variety. Mine are usually ready in early-mid July and then continue producing until I'm sick of picking them. Not that they are so productive, but I don't bother picking if there is just a handful at a time and I leave those for the neighbourhood kids to graze on. It's a low maintenance crop though, and really really nice to have around.
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