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I’m a big fan of raspberries, which are the most reliable of all the soft fruit crops that I grow. My soil is heavy and alkaline, and I’ve found that autumn-fruiting raspberries last much longer in it than summer-fruiting varieties. So now I stick

show recently, and 80% of the questions people asked me were about their poorly raspberries. I only grow autumn-fruiting varieties at home, which normally avoid attentions of raspberry beetle, but the early berries have been affected. So I wasn’t too

they are cropping so heavily. I’m tempted to plant some more, as they are such good value, and their flavour far exceeds that of shop-bought fruits. If you have room for some raspberry canes in your garden, I’d heartily recommend growing some.  ‘Autumn Bliss

Next week, from 29 March to 4 April 2010, is the inaugural Gardeners' World 'Grow Your Own' Week'. Gardeners across the land will be encouraged to teach others to start growing their own fruit and vegetables. I've taught my children to grow

plummets at about 6pm. So yes, the fleece is draped all over the place in the veg plots. A bit of snugly-protection for my sweet potatoes (I'm growing Bearegard and Jetfire this year, it'll be interesting to see how they fare!) and some vital, please-grow

.To top it all there's very little raspberry beetle damage - those horrible little browny maggoty things that sneak out of the top end of the fruit. I can't seem to pick the fruit fast enough and the entire family is going around with bright red stains

. Indeed it was so perfect that another trailer load has now appeared - the first batch having been added to the main growing beds. This time the fruit is benefitting; a good, deep carpet of the stuff has been applied around the raspberries and fruit trees

to get to grips with some compacted soil around the raspberries, they were preparing the ground for planting. I soon noticed that the last of my sweet peas in pots had disappeared (they should of course have been planted out ages ago). I found them

, studded with little fruits. To help it along I covered it with the largest cloche I could find.The strawberries, including the summer fruiters I mentioned in my last blog, are still producing fruit (unlike the raspberries). We harvest a cereal bowl full