We have a new row of Raspberries planted

I recently purchased twelve raspberry plants form Stark Bros. I purchased 6 Crimson Night and 6 Double Gold raspberries. Also ordered 4 American Cranberry plants but haven’t found the location I want for them yet.

We installed a new metal roof on the barn lean over the summer and never got around to cleaning up all the old asphalt shingles. So I always new I wanted some kind of berry line along that wall. I decided to knock out two things at once. With the clean up of the shingles and got started inspecting the weeds. I pulled all the vine weeds and raked the soil very well to ensure there wasn’t anymore roofing nails, shingles, cedar shake.

After the cleanup I measured out a 30 foot row and tilled out the row to about 3 foot wide. Once this was well tilled I added organic all purpose garden fertilizer.  Then once again I tilled it in. Now I am a good tilth to about 10 inches deep. For the final step in soil preparation I added 3 to 4 inches of compost. This is my own compost form the manures on the farm. Finally the soil is perfect and full of nutrients perfect for the new raspberry plants.

Planting the Raspberries

I planted my plants about 6 inches in front of the drip line of the lean roof. We plan on adding gutters in the future and drain it into the back pond but for now this will work. Also I spaced the plants a little more than 2 feet apart. Between the two types I added an extra foot of space. this was to leave room for the soon to come trellis support.

I plan on making a “Clothes line” trellis. With three upright 4×4’s and a T-brace on top. I will run metal cabling every two feet up the trellis and foot out in front and back at the top. This will spread the canes to allow more air flow.

Keep up to date on the new raspberry row here!