Raspberries or Blackberries in...

[lupinfarm]

raised beds?

I'm just curious, I have an enormous 20ft by 5ft "raised bed" its 2x10's ontop of landscape fabric with about 5 inches of soil currently sitting in it. I'd hate to have to take it apart to make smaller beds so I'm trying to find a way to use it for something this spring. It has a floating row cover on it so early spring when home depot starts marketing the older raspberries and blackberries I can plant and not worry about them dying.

The landscape fabric is the cheap stuff that plants can still grow through and I'd be adding more soil and compost in the next month.

Just curious to see if it's been done!

 

[vfem]

I don't know about the rooting systems of these... I know blueberries are very shallow and would work, but would like some added acidity to the soil.

 

[lupinfarm]

I know my planting containers said to dig a hole that was twice as wide but not twice as deep as the bush (i think?) when I planted my landscape ones in the front garden last spring and we don't have a lot of soil in our front garden due to being on the start of the canadian shield and they rooted because they got huge and some of my bushes did produce some fruit. I was pretty impressed lol.

 

[patandchickens]

Even the cheap landscape fabric, things don't root through very well, especially if it's buried.

You can do it, but I would suggest a good mulch come late Spring, and you will have to be much more attentive to watering the bed for the first five years -ish than you would if they were planted somewhere they could easily sink their roots into the real ground.

Actually it might be VERY WELL WORTH going through the bed before you plant anything, and using a digging bar or large prybar (preferably one with a pointy end, not a blunt prying-type end) wham a whole bunch of holes through the landscape fabric. (Right through the overlying soil, I mean) The more you make, the easier it will be for the plants' roots to find 'em and go through. If you don't have a pointy enough digging bar, a sharp-tined metal pitchfork would also do some good, but not nearly as much I suspect, on account of the resulting holes being so much tinier.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[old fashioned]

raised beds?

I'm just curious, I have an enormous 20ft by 5ft "raised bed" its 2x10's ontop of landscape fabric with about 5 inches of soil currently sitting in it. I'd hate to have to take it apart to make smaller beds so I'm trying to find a way to use it for something this spring. It has a floating row cover on it so early spring when home depot starts marketing the older raspberries and blackberries I can plant and not worry about them dying.

The landscape fabric is the cheap stuff that plants can still grow through and I'd be adding more soil and compost in the next month.

Just curious to see if it's been done!

You could also dig a hole in the fabric to plant them deeper then the raised bed and instead of more soil & compost (weed attracters) top with a good mulch. Just my 2 cents

 

[patandchickens]

And, btw, I vote for raspberries, definitely, over blackberries or blueberries. They are significantly hardier than blackberries, here in the north; and have much more of a sense of humor about soil pH than blueberries do (even if your native soil is blueberry-acidic, it will probably be pretty hard to KEEP it that way in a raised bed without frequent checking and fiddling)

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[lupinfarm]

Thanks Pat, both our Raspberries and Blackberries did extremely well. Actually, I planted a bit of both last year in the front yard as landscaping plants behind the picket fence to add some drama and the blackberries outshined the raspberries! They got crazy big pretty quick.

I might try half and half I can fit in about 13 plants on either side if I go at an 18" spacing, I belive (I'd have to read my box I saved from last season) thats the minimum spacing.