I don't often ask questions so here goes;
Question 1;
My Raspberry canes are past their best, and I am thinking of buying some new canes, here lies the problem;
I have space for around 20 canes (2 parallel rows of 10)
My problem is should I grow say 50-50 late & early varieties ( 2 x 2 parallel rows of 5 eg 10 early 10 late) or just go for one lot e.g. early?
My thoughts are; I don't want them coming in dribs and drabs.
My wife and I like to get the picking /baking/storing done in more or less one go, rather than a few now and again hence my reservations between earlies & lates.
Once that is decided then I want to know if there is much to choose between varieties or are many of the varieties just sales hype and there is not much to choose between any of them? ( I am out of touch with the newer varieties)
Question 2)
Garlic;
Again, as with my raspberries my garlic stock is getting past its best, and I want to replace it! but with what variety?
The NVS at Tatton show recommended 'Early Wight'
I prefer the soft necked varieties because of their 'keeping' qualities and I like the large bulb/clove varieties ( not elephant garlic) i.e. value for money bulbs!
Finally; Where can I purchase these varieties of raspberries & garlic you recommend?
Thanks in advance for those answers!
Regarding the raspberries, I doubt that just 10 would really yield enough at a time to keep the kitchen happy. I go in favour of earlies as they fill the gap after strawberries at a time of year when there is not much else. In the autumn, there is an abundance of blackberries to pick at liesure.
As for garlic, this is more difficult to advise as the plant is more easily influenced by local weather and soil conditions. I use Hardneck garlic originally bought from the local shop. While I am aware that I can occasionally be controversial, I put it to you all that if a shop has a large pile of loose garlic that looks to be high quality with large cloves and clean unbroken papery outer skin, then the product is probably free from disease.
Hi Tee Gee - re raspberries: I don't know whether there is a difference between the early and late summer varieties - though once or twice I've heard people say Autumn fruiting ones are not as nice. I've got Glen Ample (midsummer) and it gives a good yield and is very tasty.
And as for where to buy - I heard people say good things about Ken Muir so I've ordered fruit trees/bushes and raspberries from there and have been happy with them.
I've read somewhere that summer fruiters produce a lot more fruit than the Autumn ones. Our first year & only have Autumn. We were also told Autumn ones are less trouble as they don't need protection. Time will tell ;).
TeeGee, We have taken most of our early summer fruiting raspberries out this year because the Autumn Bliss are so lovely and that bountiful that they keep us in raspberries all the year round.We have 20 plants across the plot and they grow to around 4ft wide each year. No tying in every year and they fruit at a quieter time of the year. I found it very difficult trying to harvest the spring raspberries as well as the blackcurrants, redcurrants, and tayberries.
As far as garlic is concerned. I would like to know of a good storing one too
It's been a few years but I've picked, tied up & pruned acres of, amongst others, Glen Clova, Glen Prosen, Glen Ample, Glen Moy, Leo, Tulameen, Joan J & Autumn Bliss.
If I wanted to grow a high yield of good textured, good flavoured fruit on easy to manage canes, I'd probably choose Prosen.
I stick to primocanes (Joan J & Bliss/Allgold) & prune after fruiting (instead of the normal full winter chop) as I want a long season, the opposite of you!
edited to add - I think it was Leo that I hated the most - the 15ft long, serrated razor sharp canes were a bugger to tie along the wires!
In the August edition of the RHS magazine The Garden they give the results of a trial they have carried out on Autumn fruiting raspberries. For more information go to www.rhs.org.uk/grownyourown/raspberry.asp.
The only variety we have is Joan J, which according to the trial is probe to disease. We've not found this to be the case. The fruits are very big, and very good flavour. Being the only variety we have, its the only one we can recommend. ;D
valmarg
I swear by Autumn Bliss. No trouble, just coming into fruit now, will go on for months in past experience. Hack them all down in winter, they rush up in spring and summer, and there they are again.
"All Gold" another autumn raspberry: I have inherited a couple of plants just coming into fruit now, and even this early they have a few large, succulent, yellow juicy fruit, and I have watched them over the years (before I got their plot) going on into November or later.
valmarg - your link does not work - it should be:
http://www.rhs.org.uk/GROWYOUROWN/raspberry.asp
I second Autumn Bliss for the luscious fruit, but hate the way the roots spread into my raised beds!
Tricia
Well blow me tricia, what I posted was what was in the RHS magazine. They really need to get their act together.
valmarg
On the raspberries, I tend to agree with OllieC on this one, Glen Prosen if you want a summer fruiting type, but I like Joan J which has its main crop in autumn although a few are coming now for me (in dribs and drabs ;D )
One of the advantages of the autumn fruiting type Joan J is that the crop doesn't coincide with other soft fruit here (my blackberries, Oregon, will be over well before the rasps) so I have time to process them. They need to be dealt with quickly when cooking etc, whereas top fruit at that time of year will keep easily so you can cook when you like. They don't appear to get many pests/diseases either, although I did get root rot in one area it wasn't the Joan J.
Also, on a windy site, there isn't the problem of protecting canes over winter - summer canes, even when well tied in, don't survive here without many breakages.
Garlic - can't help I'm afraid.
Hi TeeGee, lots of advice on the raspberries!
For garlic, maybe I can help a bit. I was bought a selection box of different garlic to try (a great present!) and the ones I found that did very well, i.e. bulbed up well, bulbs an excellent size and no disease, and so far very tasty were Provence, Albigensian, Iberian and early Purple. So I'm going to stick with these varieties for next year and hope the results will be just as good....
They were all planted in autumn (the spring sown varieties have done practically nothing) on a heavy clay soil.
The garlic came from the Isle of white garlic farm. Now I know a lot of people on here don't go with them for various reasons and I'll be having a look around for suppliers as well (good price and good quality). But I will say the garlic from IOW was very good quality.
As to storage, they are in the shed, and time will tell. Although based on the amount of garlic we eat I'm not sure long storage will be an issue ;)
1066
Thought I'd add a couple of pics, a bit like "show and tell" ;D might help your decisions......
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I'd be happier knowing the original variety names rather than just this guy's trade names. It's good garlic though.
I hear what you are saying Robert.
So where do you get your garlic from?
1066
Mine came from the Garlic Farm some years ago. Those are his own trade names; garlic is propagated vegatatively, not from seed, and as far as I've been able to discover, many varieties are genetically identical. All he's done is picked garlic from various sources and given it his own names.
Sorry for the confusion, but I did realise that was what the Garlic Farm were up to - bit norty IMO!
Oh well, I'll keep looking for other suppliers........
Apparently garlic varieties will change their taste noticeably from site to site, so it's a question of experimenting to see what suits you. I'm hoping to get a few more this autumn, and see what they come out like.
Messidrome (from Tuckers /Tamar/ Delfland organics etc) and Bianco Veneto (seeds of Italy) did quite well for me this year. Their red hardneck (Russo di Sulmona) also did quite well. I think Northern Italy's climate is closer to the UK than much of France.
Quote from: Barnowl on August 03, 2009, 18:40:48
Messidrome (from Tuckers /Tamar/ Delfland organics etc) and Bianco Veneto (seeds of Italy) did quite well for me this year. Their red hardneck (Russo di Sulmona) also did quite well. I think Northern Italy's climate is closer to the UK than much of France.
The climate in Northern Italy is incredibly varied from one area to the next. Partly because of prevailing winds, partly because of elevation. So, for example, the Carso of Trieste gets a winter wind called the Bora, which comes straight from Eastern Europe, winter temperatures of -20°C are not unknown. In the Ladin Alps I have sat in several feet of snow in a T-shirt, eating ice cream because the temperature was 28°C, That was at Easter.
I was thinking more of the arable areas... :)