How to grow and care for raspberries & rosella

Raspberries!

Freshly picked raspberries are divine. You can do so many delicious things with them: cakes and muffins, ice cream, smoothies or an extra-stylish fruit salad. Plus, they're packed with vitamin C, high in antioxidants and dietary fibre; what's not to love?

If you live in a cool or temperate climate, you have a spare m² or two in a sunny spot, and don't mind devoting some time each year to pruning: raspberries are for you.

Autumn fruiting raspberry varieties will start flowering and setting their fruit from late summer to mid-autumn.

Keep the plants well fed with a potassium-rich plant food like Yates Thrive Strawberry Berry Fruit Liquid Plant Food, specifically formulated for berry and strawberry crops.

It’s easy to use, just mix 2 capfuls in a 9L watering can. Apply over the foliage and root zone every 2 weeks.

Canes on summer-fruiting raspberries that have borne fruit during summer can now be cut back to the ground. Only cut back the canes that have fruited; raspberries fruit on 2nd-year canes, so leave the fresher canes to bear next year’s summer harvest.

Have You Tried Rosella?

Rosella is a type of hibiscus (Hibiscus sabdariffa) that produces a ruby-red, fleshy seed casing, that tastes like a tart blend of raspberries and plums. It can be used to make tea, cordial, jams and sauces, or as a natural food colouring. A rosella pod makes a flamboyant statement in a glass of bubbly!

Rosella is a fast-growing annual shrub that grows to around 1.5m tall. In a warm, frost free climate, after flowering it will start producing ‘fruit’ in early autumn.

Rosella is available as small plants from nurseries, or can be grown from seed. It's an attractive plant, with red-hued stems and yellow and scarlet-tinged flowers; so it makes a decorative and delicious annual in a garden.

From spring to late summer, feed rosella plants with potassium fortified Yates Thrive Flower & Fruit Soluble Fertiliser to promote healthy foliage growth and lots of flowers, for plenty of tasty seed pods.