How to Grow an Everbearing Raspberry Bush for Raspberries all Summer Long

This post is sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation. All opinions are mine alone.

Growing raspberries can be fun and rewarding. An everbearing raspberry plant is the perfect addition to your garden this spring. Plant it now and enjoy delicious, sweet fruit all summer long. Want to learn how to grow an everbearing raspberry bush? Read on to learn how to plant and care for a bare root raspberry bush.

How to grow and everbearing raspberry bush

Why grow an everbearing raspberry bush?

Everbearing raspberries are great because they self-pollinate and produce two crops each summer. Everbearing means it produces a moderate crop of berries in July and then a heavy crop in September until the frost. The large, dark red raspberries are great for canning, freezing and (my favorite) picking right off the vine and eating fresh.

The Arbor Day Foundation sent over a bare root Heritage Everbearing Raspberry plant for me to plant in my garden.

Arbor Day Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit conservation and education organization was founded in 1972, the centennial of the first Arbor Day observance in the 19th century, the Foundation has grown to become the largest nonprofit membership organization dedicated to planting trees, with over one million members, supporters, and valued partners.

And lucky for you- The Arbor Day Foundation is offering Crafty Little Gnome readers $10 off for orders under $60 or $10 off and free shipping for orders $60 or more when they apply code CRAFTYGNOME at checkout.

Follow these instructions to shop the tree nursery yourself:

● Enter your zip code in the tree search box or the Hardiness Zone Lookup Tool. When your zone appears, you can browse by popular or recommended trees for your area.

● Browse trees by type in the navigation above

● Search by tree name using the search box to the left.

● Try the “Best Tree Finder”. Answer a few quick questions and this tool will recommend the best trees based on those answers or search for trees using specific categories.

The Heritage Everbearing Raspberry:

Produces ripe raspberries in the summer and again in the fall
Bears fruit the first year
Blooms pink in April and May
Is self-fertile, but planting multiples will ensure a better crop

bare root raspberry in plastic — How your bare root tree will arrive.

After the raspberry is unpacked, soak it in water for 3-6 hours just before planting.

To plant an everbearing raspberry bush you will need the following:

Knife
Shovel
Bare root plant
Mulch

How to plant an everbearing raspberry bush:

Pick a spot in your yard that gets full sun. Don’t plant it where you have previously planted vegetables or fruit plants and make sure to plant it at least 300 feet away from other raspberries.
The width of the hole should allow you to spread roots. If you are planting multiple raspberries, dig holes 2′-3′ apart. If you are creating several rows, dig holes 6′-8′ apart.
Clip off any dead roots and spread them in the hole.
Shovel dirt back in the hole and amend the soil.

The plants are rather shallow rooted, so moisture needs to be at the surface. Give each plant 1″-2″ of water. Do not let soil become dry to a depth of 6″.

A weak liquid nitrogen fertilizer may be applied at planting. Keep fertilizer 3″-4″ away from the base of the plant to avoid burning the roots.

Mulch the first year to keep the weeds down and increase the crop yield, but do not mulch after that unless the soil is very sandy.

Caring for your raspberry plant

Watering Guidelines

Water is important as the young plants become established. Give them about 1″-2″ per week during growing season and up to 4″ per week during harvest. Water in the morning before the hottest part of the day. The plants are rather shallow rooted, so moisture needs to be at the surface.

Pruning Raspberry Bushes

First Year Pruning: To have 2 crops, first-year canes (primocanes) should be left unpruned.

For only a fall crop, mow all the canes down to 2″-3″ after the fall harvest during late fall or late winter.

Annual Pruning: A well pruned raspberry patch will be healthier and more fruitful because of better distribution of light, air movement, and pesticides.

Everbearing second-year canes should be removed after fruiting in the spring.

Be careful not to injure the developing young first-year canes that will bear fruit in the fall.

Dispose of all the canes to eliminate the spread of disease and insects. During growing season, remove any plants with misshapen leaves, berries that are too small and broken or rubbing canes.

heritage everbearing raspberry bush — Heritage Everbearing Raspberry

How to Pick Raspberries

To give your berries a longer shelf-life, harvest in the morning after the dew has dried. Ripe berries will detach easily from the plant. Place the berries in a shallow contain to avoid crushing.

Don’t wash the berries until you are ready to use them. The storage life of red raspberries is 2-3 days when refrigerated.

In addition to my raspberry plant I recently received a Weeping Willow tree from the Arbor Day Foundation. Now that fall is on the way, its the perfect time to plant some new trees in your garden.

We planted ours near our barn (the wire around it is to protect it from getting eaten by the goats and deer)

If you didn’t get a chance to plant a new tree or shrub this spring, no worries! Fall is actually a great time to plant. The best time of year of course depends on your location and the variety of tree you want to plant but here are some great reasons why fall might be the best time to plant:

Stronger root system- Autumn rain and cooler temperatures will help roots grow strong.
Less maintenance- Winter temperatures will make the tree go dormant requiring little to no work until spring).
Trees can still be planted after the first frost until the ground is frozen.
Trees can be planted directly into the ground in the fall.

Don’t forget to check out the Arbor Day Foundation for a huge selection of plants and trees available for you to order. Make this the year you get out there and start growing!