Raspberries Glow like Rubies in the Garden

Raspberries glow like red, red rubies peaking through the green leaves. But beware the wicked thorns on these plants as you reach in to coax the fruit off the vines! They taste sweet and tart and are nothing like what you will find in the supermarket.

Eight years ago when I first laid out the garden, I planted blackberries and raspberries. I planted two varieties of blackberries and a neighbor gave me a third kind. Four different kinds of raspberries went in. After several years only the blackberries my neighbor gave me survived and this year sees me with just one type of raspberry. But a stunning raspberry it is.

Caring for Raspberries

When I planted my berries, I’d never grown them before. I’d never had a garden large enough to handle their rambling growth. I watched lots of videos on the internet and came away with conflicting ideas on how to best care for the vines. I think it may be a case of trial and error and finding what works best for you.

I’ve trellised mine along both a wire trellis that went in before I fenced the garden and using the deer fence after it was in. The raspberry pictured above actually migrated from where I originally planted them to the other side of the peach tree.

The one type that survived my early lack of knowledge is growing well. After it has fruited, the vine dies back and I cut it down to a few inches from the ground. Gloves and arm protection are needed for this task as the vines have wicked thorns!

Wineberry Raspberries

The raspberry that survived is called Wineberry Raspberry. Purchased from Edible Landscaping (https://eat-it.com), they fruit early for raspberries and have an incredible taste. Originally from Japan, they are apparently so easy to grow that they have naturalized in the Eastern United States. They produce jewel-like fruit that taste incredible.

The berries are planted along the back edge of the garden and are fronted by Bee Balm (Monarda) and Coneflower (Echinacea).

They don’t taste like supermarket berries!

Sweet and tart at the same time and incredibly delicate to pick. Sometimes as I went to pick them off the vine, I squeezed the berry just a little too hard and ended up with a “deconstructed” raspberry! They didn’t squish, just broke apart into tiny individual berry bits. I’m sure that’s one of the reasons you’ll never see these berries at the supermarket.

The berries grow in a small cluster that sometimes all ripen at the same time, allowing you to snip off the very tip and harvest six to eight berries all together. Yea!!!

I got about four quarts of berries this year over the course of about two weeks, from late June through early July. A very good investment of time. I fertilized them a couple of times with Garden Tone and pulled a few weeds from around the base of the plants, otherwise the only time invested was in the picking.

There are lots of good raspberry recipies out these but I have never used them because I love them so much eaten fresh out of hand! These ended up in a fruit salad with farm stand cantaloupe and blueberries.

My daughter visited over the Fourth of July and used farm stand peaches and blueberries with some of the raspberries in a mixed fruit crumble as a Fourth of July desert. It was excellent! So excellent that we ate most of the crumble before I remembered I should take a picture. 🤦‍♀️

I also enjoyed my garden fresh raspberries with morning oatmeal and to top this very simple chia pudding.

Vanilla Chia Pudding with Ruby Raspberries

This “recipe” is so simple, I don’t think it even really qualifies as a recipe but here goes….

• 1 1/2 cups plant based milk of your choice
• 1/3 cup chia seeds
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 Tbs. Maple syrup (or more according to your taste)

Mix all the ingredients. Stir well and refrigerate for at least three hours. Stir once or twice to keep the chia seeds distributed otherwise they have a tendency to sink to the bottom of the jar and clump.

To serve, spoon into dish and top with raspberries. Nice additions are also chopped almonds and/or cocoa nibs. Enjoy!