Red raspberries are cold hardy plants and can be grown successfully across the North Olympic Peninsula.

Here are some tips to help you harvest loads of delicious, nutritious red raspberries from your own backyard.

Raspberries can be divided into two general types: summer-bearing and fall-bearing.

Summer-bearing raspberries (the most common type) produce berries from mid-June to mid-July on canes that are 2 years old.

Fall-bearing raspberries produce fruit on the top portion of first-year canes in late August and September. They also produce fruit lower down on those same canes the following June and July (when the canes are in their second year).

Canes from both types die after two years, but the plant lives on, producing new canes each spring.

Raspberries should be planted in an area with full sun and well-drained, fertile soil. They are extremely sensitive to wet soils and die a slow death if their roots are water-logged for more than a day at a time. If your soil does not drain well, plant raspberries on raised beds or look for another site.

Plant raspberries (usually available as bare-root plants) in the early spring as soon as the ground can be worked. Dig a large, shallow hole, spread out the root mass and set the plant so that the uppermost roots are 1 inch below the soil surface. Refill the hole with native soil and water to remove air pockets.

Space red raspberries 2 to 2½ feet apart and allow canes to spread along the row. To prevent plants from shading each other, place rows 8 feet apart.

Provide your raspberries 1 to 2 inches of water each week, supplementing Mother Nature as necessary. Use drip irrigation, if possible, to minimize wetting the fruit and foliage to discourage diseases.

Apply 3 inches of mulch to control weeds and conserve moisture. Because roots are close to the surface, hand weed carefully.

Raspberries are not heavy feeders. Apply a 5-10-10 fertilizer when plants start to grow in spring and again at the end of May and June. Provide a greater amount of nitrogen fertilizer if canes grow less than 7 feet tall or leaves are pale green or yellow.

Red raspberries need support to keep their canes upright. A double-T trellis (a trellis with two sets of wires running parallel on either side of plants at about 3 and 5 feet high) works well to keep canes and fruit off the ground.

To keep your raspberry patch healthy, prune second-year canes down to the ground after harvest. In early spring, thin the remaining canes (before new canes start to appear) to a density of 5 or 6 canes per foot of row. Limit row width to 12 inches because wider rows are more difficult to weed, prune and harvest, and are more likely to develop diseases.

Red raspberries can be invasive. They put out new shoots from both crowns and roots and spread in all directions, popping up in walkways or nearby garden beds. Prune out unwanted canes as soon as they appear.

Do not let your raspberries bear fruit the first year or two to help them get established. This sacrifice will pay off as the plants will be stronger, live longer and produce more fruit for many years to come.

Jeanette Stehr-Green is a Washington State University-certified, Clallam County Master Gardener.

Recipe: Raspberry Pear Crisp

Ingredients:

Topping

¾ cup rolled oats

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/3 cup butter or margarine

Filling

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

6 ripe pears, peeled, cored and cut into thin slices

2 cups of fresh raspberries

2 tablespoons brown sugar

½ teaspoon cinnamon

In a small bowl, combine rolled oats, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Using a pastry blender (or two forks), cut butter into mixture until the mixture is crumbly. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in a large bowl. Add pears, raspberries, sugar and cinnamon and mix well to cover fruit.

Spread fruit mixture in an 8- or 9-inch square glass baking dish that has been buttered (or sprayed with non-stick cooking spray). Sprinkle topping over fruit. Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until pears are tender.