I find raspberries to be one of the most satisfying things in my garden.

The berries are colourful, taste amazing right off the cane, and can be used in many dishes. Since they prefer cooler climates, they grow very well in Alberta and require only a bit of care to keep producing delicious fruit year after year.

Last year's harvest

Planting
To start, select a spot in your yard that has full sun and good drainage.  If you are putting them in an area where the soil hasn't been worked before, mix in compost or well aged manure to help your plants thrive.  This bit of work now will save you a lot of work later.

Soak the roots of your raspberries for an hour or so before planting so you don't need to water as much later. When finished, dig a hole slightly bigger than the root ball and then fill it with good soil. Space your plants 3 feet apart if planting in a row, or put one foot apart if planting in a circle bush style. Finish by adding a layer of wood or leaf mulch around the canes to hold in moisture, choke out weeds, and keep out competitive grass. You can get free wood mulch at the Ambleside or Kenendale Ecostations in Edmonton. In fall, rake your leaves over the canes to add extra mulch.

Give your newly planted canes a good watering! Once established, they won't need to be watered unless we are having a severe drought. However, this first year they've had a big move, so give them the extra moisture to get them going.

Pruning
If you are in a windy area, trimming your canes at about 5 feet can reduce the amount of swaying they do and will ensure you can reach all of the fruit your plants produce.

As our raspberries are summer-bearing, the existing canes will produce fruit this year and then die off next year. The new canes that grow this year will produce fruit next year, and so on. In early spring, cut the dead (non-leafing) canes to the ground and throw them in your compost bin. Again, do not cut down canes that have leaves and no fruit--the fruit will come in the following year.

Harvest
The 2 year old canes will produce fruit around July and August. Pick the berries when they are ripe, and about every 2-3 days. The darker the colour, the riper it is, but be careful, as when they are too ripe and they will fall to the ground where they will either be eaten by insects or become entirely new plants.

As a rule of thumb, berries that are easy to pull are ripe enough.

Make sure to look around your plants from many angles as these tasty berries love to hide under leaves and can often be overlooked. I use a glove to manuever the canes as the small needle-like thorns can irritate the skin. This gives me an advantage during raspberry picking races with the family as I can move the canes with one hand, spot hidden gems, and pick with my ungloved-free hand.

3/4 of an ice cream pail won me the Quiker Picker title.

Storing
Raspberries can be eaten right off the vine, but if you want to have some for later or have far to many to eat in a day, they can be kept in the fridge for a week. After that, they become very juicy and need to be cooked with. You can also freeze them in a single layer on a baking sheet and then put them into airtight freezer bags.

Eating Ideas
These berries don't need much sugar and go a long way. They can be added fresh to yogurt parfaits, trifles, and onto ice cream. Raspberries and Cream is another classic at my house. They are great additions to fruit popsicles or can be frozen and added to drinks in place of ice cubes.

Baked they can be added to pancakes, muffins, loaves (lemon loaf with raspberries is incredible if you get the chance), or as a sauce over chocolate cake and waffles.

How do you eat your raspberries?