Early June Berry Update!

My Fall Gold raspberries are starting to form! They're coming along much earlier than the heritage red raspberries! 

Meanwhile, the heritage red raspberries have begun to flower! Also new growth for next year's crop is very thick! I'll have to thin it out after the berries ripen. 

My blackberry plant continues to slowly flower and one of the canes is taller than me! And I'm 5'10! 

I also noticed new canes are taking off nicely after a few days of much needed rain. Plants seem to always do better when watered by the sky versus the hose. 

Raspberry Flowers!

The first of the raspberry flowers have opened up for 2015. I actually noticed one flower on each of my raspberry varieties. The photo below is of the flower on my Fall Gold raspberry plant. This is the first year I'll be getting the golden, yellow berries! 

Fall Gold Raspberries Buds!

I'm getting super excited! For the first time since I bought my Fall Gold raspberry plants, i'm finally seeing some flower buds forming on the plant. This means I'll have the very cool looking gold raspberries this summer! Woo-hoo! 

The berries are very similar to the red heritage raspberry, which I am also growing. Both plants will bear fruit and ripen around the same time, providing what I hope to be a beautiful assortment of raspberries! Both varieties are sweet and delicious, excellent for eating fresh. The only difference is the color. Red Heritage raspberries are your traditional bright red, these will be a beautiful yellow, gold color! 

Below are pictures of some of the buds forming on my Fall Gold raspberry plants! 

and what they should look like at harvest time! This photo is from wikipedia commons 

Fall Gold Raspberries April 19, 2015

My Fall Gold Raspberries have had a hard time taking off. Last year was the first year they were in the ground the whole time and unfortunately the plants didn't produce many canes, never mind any fruit! 

These raspberries are suppose to grow well with heritage raspberries (which I have planted a few feet away in their own bed). However, unlike the traditional red raspberry of the heritage plant, the fall gold is suppose to produce beautiful yellow/gold berries, usually with a great harvest in the late summer/early fall season. 

After the coldest 3 month period on record in my area of Connecticut, I was worried that my raspberries would be damaged or killed off. However, it seems the prolong snowpack may have actually helped to keep the plants insulated. Now, the raspberries canes are beginning to  lead out and I noticed a lot more smaller canes growing in the fall gold bed! 

It may be small but it's a start to a healthy crop later this year or next yea! I can't wait to try a fall gold raspberry! 

Finally got my Raspberry Plants!!!

I first pondered the idea if growing raspberries in my backyard last summer, however like all fruit plants, summer is not the time to plant or even find raspberry plants for planting. As fall arrived I kept my eye out for any plants on sale, all I found was some blueberry bushes and a blackberry plant (which I got an amazing deal on!). So as winter came to an end, abet very slowly here in the northeast, I once again began looking for raspberry plants, knowing that early spring is the best time to plant. I checked Lowes first but they only had 2 varieties, neither of which were Heritage variety. These two varieties were developed in Washington state and performed best with a gradual warm up in spring, something that is very rare here in CT! So I held off and decided to check other stores.
So I was ecstatic to see Home Depot had raspberry plants on sale. So I went hoping they would have red heritage variety and they did! So I got two red heritage variety raspberry plants. They had other varieties as well. The fall gold variety caught my eye and when I saw it was an ever bearing variety like the red heritage, I was sold! So I ended up with 2 fall gold raspberry plants as well!
Now I have 4 raspberry plants that should produce a fall crop this year and then a spring and fall crop every year!!! I can't wait to have some but first I have to find a good spot for them!