Heritage Raspberries in Pots??

[LikeMarigold]

I've got three (rather unpromising-looking) heritage raspberry plants from a well-known mail-order company--basically just woody, naked stalks with roots--that are begging to be put into some cushy dirt and given a drink. The only question is, where? As I've mentioned in basically every post I've made, my garden soil is basically unusable, especially for food products. I mean, I pulled up a pair of pantyhose last week, and a Barbie leg the week before that, both of which were quite difficult to wrest from the sticky red clay, let me tell you.

I planted three (similarly naked, three-foot) dwarf fruit trees in absolutely gigantic plastic pots this season, promising them that I'll transplant them into something more permanent within two years or so. I'm being really vigilant about watering and fertilizing them.

Can I do that with my heritage raspberry bushes? What kind of planting depth do they want? According to the company, these bushes should fruit this August here in zone 6b. Are they less likely to fruit in pots?

Thanks!!

[opabinia51]

I should think that if you put them in nice large pots with a good soil mix conbined with some compost and manure that they would do fine.


Now onto a much, much bigger project: your yard. Sounds pretty nasty! But, there is hope in site. In organic gardening there is one adege that always comes true: Add Organic Matter. So, add as much leaf mulch to your soil as you can this fall just don't use Walnut leaves.

Also, you can get a load of sand and work that in as well.

Now with clay, the fine paticles will form what are known as soil colloids with the leaf matter as it breaks down it will take a few years to see a noticeable difference but, things will get better. Adding the sand will help to increase the pore size in your soil and also create more useable soil colloids.

For now, buy a bag of Rye seed and possibly some vetch or clover and spread them over your soil. Once everything is up (you'll have to water it) mow it weekly and don't collect the clippings. Allow them to sit and decmpose on site.

You will be adding fixed carbon and nitrogen to your soil and will be getting a head start on building a healthy soil for future years.

Might as well add one more tip here as well, it will be tough but, you can also dig trenches and fill them with leaves, coffee grounds and manure (and so on) to get an even bigger head start on things. It will be tough going with all that clay but, you will soon reap the benefits.