The harvest window for my Tulameen raspberries is all too brief, so brief in fact that my sister plans her visits based on picking time. (And I’m sure she comes to see me as well.) Since one month won’t sate my appetite for raspberries, I’ve planted two late season raspberry varieties to extend the harvest: Fall Gold and Caroline.
Though both raspberries are called everbearing, they produce the largest crop on the current season’s growth. Most growers recommend cutting everbearing raspberries to the ground in March or April–new growth means a new crop. This is not the case with earlier summer-bearing raspberries. Because Tulameen raspberries produce fruit from last season’s growth, only lightly prune the canes, if at all. In the photo above, Caroline boasts a bounty of large, juicy, tart red berries.
Richly flavored and perfumed, Fall Gold is my favorite gold raspberry. The berries are firm, sweet and beautifully colored.
My only complaint with late season berries is that fall harvest coincides with fall rains. Should you have several days of wet weather, the berries will become moldy and unpalatable, but then again so will I.
Related links: Growing Raspberries in Your Home Garden, Washington State berry growing guide, Fall Gold Info, Cornell’s recommended varieties, Caroline info, How to Prune Raspberries.
What I was blogging about:
- One year ago: Picking Favorites: Great Tomatoes for Puget Sound
- Two years ago: Violetta Fig Finishes Out the Season
Those are beauties, Tom! Now you’ve gone and persuaded me to grow golden raspberries. I’ve always been partial to those plush, blushed beauties. But your goldens…? They seem as sophisticated and sensuous as a glass of good white wine. Enjoy eating them with your sister. I just posted my simple, no-fuss raspberry recipe (if you need to jam a little bit at a time). I’d love to see how it turns out with golden raspberries.
I really see a lot of possibilities for egg cups. I think I’ll need to buy some the next time I spot them at a garage sale.
Lovely Tom! I am a newcomer to your site and find, when faced with a decision be it a dinner menu or preferred plant choices for PNW pacific northwest or – yes, I confess – how to freeze blueberries, I have been turning to your beautiful and well documented bloggings.
many thanks –
MMMMMM! I love late-season raspberries, then again, any chance to have fresh berries is a plus for me!
Tom – the berries are absolutely gorgeous…you never cease to amaze and entertain.
I’ve never eaten golden raspberries, but these look quite appealing. Do they have the red raspberry flavor? Amazing pictures throughout your blog. Might we expect to see some notecards or a calendar a la “Tall Clover?” What a great idea!!
Yummy looking raspberries, Tom.
How did the peaches do this year? And Makah Ozette potato?
I’m with Pam. It’s time for some Tall Clover notecards. Thanks for ushering in fall so graciously!
xo, Sustainable Eats
What have you been doing with these raspberries, Tom? Tarts, jam, or just eating right off the plant?
June, I need a few more pickings to have enough for jam. If the rain holds off as well as my waning willpower, it may just happen.
Eileen, I’ve been a bit lazy in the kitchen lately; it’s fresh berries and cream all the way. Pick and rinse berries, sprinkle a wee bit of sugar, pour a splash of cream or half and half, toss lightly and then, go to town.
Pam and Annette, I really like the idea. Okay, time to do a little research.
Anupa, I may have to turn in my trowel and felco pruners this year. What a crummy growing season. I’ll write up a post on the peaches shortly, but here’s a hint: abyssmal. The makah ozette potatoes were really good but something (read rat, squirrel or vole) dined on the crop regularly. I planted more seed potatoes than I reaped at the end of the season.
brion — merci mon ami
Scott — I like the way you think.
Lea — Thank you, that is about the nicest compliment I could have received (unless someone is willing to say I bear a striking resemblance to George Clooney). Okay stop your laughing now.
Renae — You’re on the right track; Limoges awaits those who rifle through garage sale boxes.
Tom, what a gorgeous post! As always, your photography and layouts are simply inspiring. My mouth is watering!
I’ll definitely be looking out for the Caroline and Fall Gold raspberries this bare root season…
Thanks for the link to my pruning tutorial! It’s a bit ironic, but I don’t actually have a single raspberry in my own home garden – just in clients’ gardens. I must remedy that, as raspberries are easily my favorite fruit.
Thanks Genevieve, and don’t forget to plant Tulameen, for a bumper crop of raspberries in July!
I love raspberries and the best ones I have had were at an aunt’place in the north of England; I get so disappointed by the store bought ones, yet I still buy them. You are so lucky to have these gorgeous berries in your own backyard!
I’ve got berries. And I’ve got mold. Yours look so much prettier.
Sandy, the mold has arrived; I’m feeling your pain.
Yes, it’s time for you to start selling items on your site. Photography– including stationary, notecards and framed photos, would be perfect.
Calender, screen savers, coffee mugs (with homing beacons) customized eyewear (ala trconway) correction bulldog of the month calender (Chippendale bulldoogs) maybe a b&g blog where the dogs dish out advice on keeping you…I see a radio show in yogr future
I actually think the “ketchup making disaster” would make a great Christmas card!
Renae, Brion, and Pam since you are my brain trust, I will heed your advice, the Tall Clover empire begins now!
We really need to add some gold raspberries to the gardens next year. I stood at the Farmer’s Market this weekend trying so hard not to drool on the gold berries for sale there. The gold ones are just gorgeous. Every garden should have raspberries!
believe it or not i saw a recipe for charred tomato relish in the newspaper this weekend. I’m searching for a charred pepper recipe….
brion, oooh you funny man, better make sure it’s a recipe for really, really charred pepper relish.
Tom,
I was happy to see that you grow the same raspberry varieties that I do. (I used to live on Vashon Island for 10 years, and have since moved to Eastern Washington.) My Tulameen raspberries have grown to 8 ft., I’m wondering how far to cut them back. I am also wondering if I should cut my Caroline’s and goldens back. I have heard that you can, because they grow on first year growth, but wouldn’t that be moving your harvest back. Can I just let them produce on both year’s growth and not cut them back at all, and just take out the dead wood? Your pictures are beautiful, it makes me anxious for raspberry season to come again. Any advice, I would appreciate.
Hi Shannon, Here’s what I do:
Tulameen: I cut down the canes to the ground that fruited last year (you’ll see old berry bracts and pale cane wood). The new growth from last summer that is about 8 feet tall, I trim back to 6 feet, as it seems to produce bigger berries, when I do that.
Fallgold and Caroline: These are considered a fall bearing berries, so I cut the canes, all the canes, down to the ground. It will keep you from having an earlier summer crop, but if you have Tulameen (which bears in July), you’ll be able to extend your season with Caroline and Fallgold. Pruning all the canes now causes a larger, more robust crop and berry for Caroline and Fallgold in the late summer, early fall. And again you could just cut out the dead wood and have two smaller crops, one arriving early on last year’s wood, and one arriving later on this year’s growth.
As a rule of thumb, if you cut out any dead wood (again, one showing berry production the prior season), you’ll get berries.
Good luck and cheers, to a former islander
[…] Fall Gold and Caroline raspberries are pictured above, and I also recommend Tulameen for an earlier crop of equally large, sweet berries. […]
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