Taming the Raspberry Patch
Miller Family Farm Raspberry Patch Growing Wild
One thing that I really enjoy about sustainability is the ability to pick up the subject and go, regardless of the context you tend to find yourself in. My case may be different than yours, but our ability to learn from each other’s experiences is what makes the sustainability movement robust and strategic. For most people sustainability may start with things like LED light bulbs, but one big sustainability project on my mind was harvesting Raspberries.
If you checkout the picture above, you can see what I have to work with here. The entire patch is approximately 900 square feet, with an absolute jungle of weeds and Raspberry reeds. Like most things, it’s best to tackle big projects like this with a systematic plan that allows you to progress as you go. For now, let me explain how I am going to clean up this Raspberry patch. If you need information regarding growing Raspberries, I’ll be sure to cover tips and tricks in the future, but for now, feel free to use the University of Minnesota Extension Website for anything you may need to know regarding growing Raspberries (Growing raspberries in the home garden | UMN Extension).
Currently, when the wife and I want to collect Raspberries, it involves us wading through the long raspberry reeds, causing damage to the plants, the berries, as well as exposing ourselves to nasty weeds such as burning nettles. We are able to get the job done, but I think we can do better, how about you?
Our plan of attack is going to be to create paths cutting into the Raspberry patch. This will allow us to better harvest the berries on the inside of the raspberry patch without the above mentioned issues. In addition, the extra spacing will improve the plant’s production and health. This will be the first year attempting to tame this patch, so our goal is to make 3 equidistant paths cutting into the berry patch. Lets get into the methdology.
First, measure out where you want your paths. To keep things simple, we will start on the Left side of the pictured patch, and walk about 6 feet before stopping. This is where we are goign to build our first path. Begin by gloving up with some thick but malleable leather gloves. This will protect you against those stinging nettles I mentioned, as well as the pesky thorns on the Raspberry Reeds. Trust me your hands will be thanking you!
Begin weeding down the path entrance until you are left with only Raspberry Reeds. Now, my wife and I absolutely hate wasting live plants, especially ones that are already producing. To be sustainable with our Raspberry project, we are going to be attempting to transplant the Raspberry Reeds that are in the space designated for our new path.
Pick all the ripe berries in the area you are working on. As you can see in the picture above, it isn’t always a lot but hey, little bits add up! Once you’ve harvested the berries, find a good shovel and place it at the base to the first raspberry cane you wish to transplant.
With the shovel about 6 inches from the base of the plant, dig down and under the Raspberry plant, releasing it’s root ball from the earth around it. Once the Root ball has been loosened, grab the raspberry plant at the base of the plant and Pull. If you got a good pull and a clean disconnect from the earth, it should slide right up.
Place the root ball in a bucket for now and repeat the process until you have a bit of a path created. You can use old raspberry reeds and weeds as mulching for the path, keeping weeds from returning from where you just worked. Never forget that nature never rests, and if we can find a solution to keep her busy, we should.
Once I reached the end of the berry patch, I had successfully filled a 5-gallon pail with Raspberry Reeds to transplant, an aisle had been created allowing us to successfully harvest the interior of the Raspberry patch, and we were able to fill 8 1/2 pint containers of fresh picked Raspberries. Buying that much berries at a major brand like Wal-Mart would cost me $48, but it only took us an hour and a half to accomplish.
The completed Isle inspected by the Work Supervisor Az (Cat)
And just like that, we have completed our first aisle out of 3. This is where we call it the day, because like most people, I can’t play with plants all day and must go to my grown-up job as well, but that doesn’t mean we are completely done with our project, because we have a 5-gallon pail full of Raspberry Reeds to transplant! Waste not want not! On my way to work I stopped at the Uecker Family Farm, where we have begun a market garden and have taken over 2 rows of Raspberry plants. I have been creating a space where we want to grow a third row of raspberries, and so will be the perfect spot for some transplants.
Transplanting Raspberry reeds this way is what I like to call, the “Just Do It” way. It may not be best practice, but you never know what a plant will do until you let it try. To give the plant the best bet, I used a garden shears to cut the Raspberry reeds about 1 foot above the root mass. This will allow the plant to dedicate energy to growing roots instead of trying to maintain the foliage it has already developed, allowing for a successful transplant of the raspberries. Once they were all clipped, they were planted in the garden to create the start to a 3rd row of raspberries.
With that, we have officially finished Day 1 of taming the Raspberry Patch. We were able to not only improve the environment our Raspberries were growing in, allowing them to thrive, but also, we were able to use the waste to create another productive patch that will generate food for our future needs. Stay with us as we continue to progress and improve little bits at a time.
