Grow Your Own Magazine

I've recently ordered some razzies - 10 'Autumn Bliss' and 10 'All Gold', which is, I believe, a yellow sport of A.B. Has anyone got experience with either or both of them? Would you recommend them, or are there other better Autumn raspberries? I've got a month to change my order. I'm planning to grow them in rows between my apple trees, since they're shade-tolerant.

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My Autumn bliss have been lovely this year.
Put them in 2 years ago, not much of a crop last year but this year I've had a lovely crop of tasty good sized fruit.

My Glen ample on the other hand have been rubbish! However the company I bought them from have kindly promised to replace them this year.

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Imagination is everything, it is a preview of what is to become.

My autumn bliss are only a year old so not much off them this year - Joan J is the other variety I have though and they have produced masses of fruit! Also very tasty.

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If it ain't broke...fix it til it is!

We grow Autumn Bliss and they are prolific and taste delicious. I'd always recommend autumn-fruiting varieties as they require much less messing around, just cut them close to ground level in late winter and pick the fruits in August/September; Simples! The main problem is that the crops are so huge that you start to feel hounded by them because you end up feeling as if your life comprises of little else than raspberry picking. Our Autumn Bliss are still producing and we're, unbelievably, into October, though thankfully the rate has slowed a little now. We're planning on planting a few All Gold this year as OH has heard that they make a good wine.

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Into each life some rain must fall........but this is getting ridiculous.

Yeah what Bluemoon said about Autumn Bliss

Polka is being heavily praised (or promoted?) in the gardening press. Its daddy is Autumn Bliss. http://www.thompson-morgan.com/fruit...cww3518/1.html

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I've got autumn bliss and all gold. Both have cropped very well this year and are still going. Only problem is that they needed support this year and I didn't have to do that before, so some canes collapsed.

I agree about autumn fruiting being best I have Glen Ample (I think) as well. It hasn't fruited as well as usual this year and I find it tricky because although it fruits early, it also fruits later on the canes that didn't fruit earlier so I don't know which to prune and fear being left with none next year. I also liked the sound of Polka.

Thanks for the advice.
Having read up about raspberries, I can't understand why anyone grows the summer-fruiting kind at all, since the autumn-fruiters have all the advantages, and no disadvantages that I'm aware of: they give you a crop a year after planting, whereas you have to wait nearly two years with summer ones; they require less support; they are less prone to raspberry beetle, because they flower when it's less active; and you can persuade them to fruit in summer by judicious pruning, whereas you can't, as far as I'm aware, make summer ones fruit in autumn. Maybe summer ones taste better. Does anyone grow them? If so, why?

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They took all the trees, and put 'em in a tree museum,
And charged all the people a dollar and a half just to see 'em...
Joni Mitchell

I grow summer and autumn rasps, the idea is to extend the season, LOVE raspberries![/I]

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Imagination is everything, it is a preview of what is to become.

Joan J loads of fruit and no prickles

I bought just 5 'Polkas' last winter to see how they held up against my ABs. Newish variety of autumn fruiters. Brilliant. Large sweet fruit of amazing flavour and for a first year, loads of fruit. So when it is time to change the old canes it will be goodbye AB and hello Polkas.

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Why didn't Noah just swat those 2 greenflies?

This is such an interesting thread, I had no idea you could get black raspberries or heard of polkas!

Thank you

I got some free raspberries from a rival magazine, tulameen I have one autumn bliss bush too. I will definately look in to these two.

I see from two Sheds that T & M do them. I got mine from Victoriana Nurseries. About the same price.

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Why didn't Noah just swat those 2 greenflies?

Joan J are the best ! i have 5 diff kinds and will still be picking Joan J in December ! they are easy to do andhuge as well as taste good and like Paul says no thorns (got mine from Paul ! ).

I put J Joan in this April (just a couple of canes in a container) and we still had several handfuls of tasty raspberries with more ripening still. I can't wait for next year when they are planted out and really take off. The lack of spikes was a big bonus too.

Joan J is a newer variety than AB, heavy cropping and good flavour

Polka is one of the earliest Autumn fruiting rasps and has good flavour

I still grow some summer fruiting rasps as they give a heavier crop over a shorter period of time which suits jam making. Autumn varieties crop over a longer period but have less at once, not so good for jamming but great for deserts etc

I'm looking out for the new blackberries which crop on first year growth like autumn fruitng rasps - should be much easier to keep under control.

Sorry if I am being led a bit off target but you can blame Lovage.

I am sick of my vicious spiky blackberries, every time I try to pick some, to make blackberry whisky, I get so injured I have to come inside and have a slug of last year's blackberry whisky. Does anyone know a good thornless variety?

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Why didn't Noah just swat those 2 greenflies?

My Polka have done well this year.

I have Blackberry (Waldo) that is thornless for the first time this year. It's been OK less fruit, but the ones I got from it was massive.

I've got All Gold, and I won't bother getting any more of them. I have yet to get any fruit home intact, and that's assuming I managed to harvest them in one piece - they're so fragile it's ridiculous! Often by the time I get them home, there's a pool of juice in the bottom, and the fruits are mush I've tried tupperware boxes, freezer bags, cardboard punnet, plastic punnet... Basically, if they have to be transported, and can move at all in the container, they fall to bits. If you try and hold them still in the container, they get crushed.
This might just be a problem with my canes or growing technique?! Does anyone else have the same problem?

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I know its a little out of date with all the new varieties, but I just treated myself (well at the car boot for £1 ) to the Fruit Expert book, its jolly useful esp on how to build frames, and gives (reasonably) simple explinations for everything.

The problem with the Fruit Expert Book is that over 60% of the fruit varieties I grow are not in it.

For example I have the 2008 version of the book and it does not have Polka or Tulameen, the two raspberries I grow in it.

Also out of date on the new pruning methods.

Oregon Thornless. However, I don't think it's worth growing blackberries, since they are so readily available (albeit thorny) in the wild.

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They took all the trees, and put 'em in a tree museum,
And charged all the people a dollar and a half just to see 'em...
Joni Mitchell

I had a look on the ebay web site, the black raspberries are about £9.50 each plus p+p.....I dont know about others but that seems a bit steep for one?

Especially as the Polka veriety mentioned earlier are £6.50 for 5!

Autumn Bliss has been around a long time and is generally acknowledged (amongst gardeners and commercial growers) to be the most reliable raspberry variety. Unlike many of the summer fruiting varieties, it is not susceptible to raspberry root rot disease. Polka is a new autumn fruiting variety that has Autumn Bliss in its parentage. It seems to have the reliability of Bliss but produces up to twice as much crop. The fruit quality is excellent (really big succulent fruits with plenty of flavour). I would thoroughly recommend both varieties but I think on balance Polka has the edge. Both are available mail order from Pomona Fruits

Talking about Blackberries, Oregon Thornless is not a bad variety (has lovely ornamental cut-leaf foliage), but there are other more modern thornless varieties around that have superior fruit quality. Namely Loch Tay and Loch Ness. But if you can face the thorns, go for Black Butte which produces the biggest berries you could possibly imagine.

Pomona Fruits
Garden Fruit Specialists.

It does, however, have a smidge of a problem. It suckers all over the plot.

Wonderful fruit, wonderful flavour, but you do need to keep on top of the suckers.

valmarg

Dont bother witht the 'black' raspberry !! i bought 2 and they have been a waste of space, will give them one more year and if no better they out !

Edit .. still picking Joan J

I`ve got autumn bliss and polka and polka are much better flavour

Well thanks to this thread I just invested in 3 Polka canes using my £10 T&M voucher.

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