How to Grow a Raspberry Garden

Plant a raspberry variety that will thrive in your area. Refer to the U.S. National Arboretum's website for a U.S. Department of Agriculture Plant Hardiness Zone Map, which you can use to determine the growing zone you live in. Use this information to select the most suitable raspberries. As a result of hybridization, raspberries can be grown in zones 2 through 10 and are no longer restricted to cooler regions.

Choose your planting site. Plan to plant your raspberries in well-drained sandy loam soil and in a spot that receives full sunlight in the mornings. Avoid low areas that retain water into the spring, as well as areas where tomatoes, potatoes, peppers or eggplant have grown within the last four years; these can carry verticillium, a root rot that can attack raspberries. Destroy all wild raspberry and blackberry plants within 600 feet to prevent the spread of diseases to your new plants.

Test your soil using a testing kit, available at most nurseries, and record its pH and fertility levels. The ideal pH is 5.6 to 6.2. Apply organic matter, such as peat moss and compost, to increase the pH of acidic soils.

Plant raspberries as soon as danger of severe frost has passed. Plant the canes as soon as possible after purchasing them so that the roots are not able to dry out. Dig a hole for each plant so that it is at the same depth, or slightly deeper, than it was in the nursery. Set the soil around the roots and water generously.

Grow red raspberry plants in a hedgerow. Plant red-raspberry crowns approximately 2 feet apart in a row, leaving 8 to 12 feet between rows. Suckers will extend up from the roots to create a hedge. Maintain the hedge at a width of 12 to 18 inches at the base. Grow purple and black raspberries 4 feet apart in rows 8 to 12 feet apart.

Build a trellis to enhance fruit quality, make harvesting easier and help prevent disease. Build a "T" trellis system for red raspberries. Screw 3 1/2-foot-long cross arms into sturdy wooden posts at a height of around 4 feet. Set the posts at least 2 feet deep in the ground at each end of the row, sinking them with the help of a sledgehammer. Run heavy-gauge wire along each length of the row and secure it to each side of the cross arms. Set a post next to each plant if you are growing black or purple raspberries. Run a wire along all the posts in the row, approximately 4 1/2 feet above the ground. Tie the canes of each plant to the closest post using twine.

Remove weeds from around your raspberry plants with your hands. Spread 3 to 4 inches of wood chips, bark, pine needles or rotted leaf mulch over the plant rows to control weeds and preserve moisture in the soil. Give the plants 1 to 2 inches of water per week; increase that amount if your climate is particularly dry, hot or windy. Scatter general-purpose granular fertilizer over the soil in spring.

Remove all new canes that grow outside the desired plant row width regularly during the summer months. Remove all canes that show signs of disease or damage from pests. Remove canes that fruited the previous year (identifiable by their gray, peeling bark and branches) in late winter or early spring, before the buds break.

Pick firm fruit from the plant regularly. Pull the raspberries carefully from the plant, leaving behind the plug that held it in place.