If you have a personal plot and you have a choice of which berry bushes are best planted, then raspberries should be among the first contenders. We will talk about the variety of raspberries Patricia. Landing and caring for it will not be difficult if you follow some rules. They are not at all complicated. Raspberry is considered the most unpretentious garden shrub.
Grade Advantages
From the variety of modern types of raspberries, we have chosen the most popular among amateur gardeners - this is raspberry Patricia. We begin the description of the variety by listing its merits.
The most basic of them are excellent consumer qualities of berries. They are large - with good care grow up to 4 cm, very sweet, and the bones are almost invisible. From one bush you can collect up to 11 kg of berries. How to feed raspberries to get such fruits, we will tell below. Another indisputable advantage is winter hardiness. Even if the thermometer goes down to -34 degrees Celsius, the bushes will not freeze. Nevertheless, in areas with harsh winters, young shoots should be protected.
Raspberries are valuable not only in berries. With a cold, you can brew leaves and stems and drink like sweatshops. In addition, the leaves contain a large amount of vitamin C, A, PP, as well as B vitamins. In berries, a large percentage of biometals in easily digestible form are potassium, magnesium, copper and iron. They are indispensable for normalizing blood formation, strengthening the myocardium and improving the functioning of the immune system.
Jam and raspberry compote perfectly preserve the properties of the berry. For the winter, you can dry and freeze the fruits. With this preparation, they also remain very healthy and tasty.
Raspberries are not contraindicated in patients with diabetes. Xylitol, which has no energy value, gives it a sweet taste.
Choose a place
After purchasing Patricia raspberry seedlings, take care of a good place for it. By choosing the right place, you will ensure yourself an excellent harvest by 50%. The remaining 50% is caring for the bushes. Raspberries love well-lit, elevated places, protected from strong winds. It is most correct to plant bushes along the fence at a distance of 70-100 cm from it. Between the bushes should be at least a meter of free space. Shrubs should be able to branch well and not interfere with each other - berries form at the ends of branches. As for the supports, they are installed near each bush and a rope is pulled on which the branches are laid in order to prevent breaking off - the raspberry branches are quite fragile.
The soil
What soil does Raspberry Patricia prefer? The description of the variety indicates that light, sandy, with neutral acidity will be most suitable. If your site is heavy, deoxidize it with lime, dolomite flour or chalk. This is best done in the fall or spring until the snow has melted. With later application, there is a risk of burning young green shoots. Per square meter a square meter is enough one glass of lime. As a rule, this is done once every 10-15 years. Wood ash is well deoxidized. It, like chalk, can be applied even in summer.
Providing your bushes with good soil, you will never know what raspberry Patricia can hurt. Reviews gardeners agree that under the bushes you need to regularly pour crushed shells from raw or boiled eggs. From this, the berries will be larger.
Landing
For each bush, you need to prepare a pit. Since the raspberry roots are located in the surface soil layer, the depth of the planting hole may not exceed the height of the shovel bayonet, but the diameter should be no less than 50 cm.The rotted manure mixed with compost, sand and wood ash is laid on the bottom of the hole. The roots are neatly laid out, watered and sprinkled with earth. To avoid drying out of the top layer, mulch with straw.
Care
If Patricia raspberry has appeared in your garden, the description of the variety says that in matters of care it is practically no different from any other. This is a perennial plant with a two-year development cycle. Fruits appear on the shoots of the second year. One bush of our variety should have one or two fruiting shoots and the same number of substitution shoots. Old branches should be broken down and burned before winter. During the growing season, it is necessary to maintain the soil under the bushes moist. Watering is best in the evening, irrigating the ground at the base of the bushes. During the night, the ground will become saturated and the roots will be wet all day. If after watering, mulching is carried out, then the number of waterings can be reduced to once a month. During flowering and fruiting, it is enough to water abundantly once a week. In one place, the plant feels good for 10-15 years. Then you should update the bushes and transplant to another place.
Wintering
In September, the site should begin to prepare for winter. Raspberry Patricia (the variety description contains this information) is winter-hardy, however, in areas with severe winters, it is necessary to protect the root system and young shoots from freezing. Raspberry is not afraid of frost, but it does not tolerate thaws with subsequent frosts. Thawed shoots must be removed, and young ones should be bent to the ground, fixed and covered with spruce branches or with special covering material. In March, the bushes open, and the shoots are shortened to one meter.
Fertilizers
Beginning gardeners always have a ton of questions, in particular about how to feed raspberries to get a good harvest. As a rule, the fertilizer that was put in the landing pit is enough. Overgrown garden foliage during the winter is also an excellent organic fertilizer. In the spring, before buds open, the ground under the bushes should be loosened with foliage and mulched by crushed egg shells. Overfeeding raspberries is not recommended, otherwise it will fatten, that is, give an extensive shoot that will pull the juices from the mother bush.
Pests
Raspberry pests affect only neglected bushes. With good soil, sufficient watering, light and sparseness, raspberries will not cause any problems. If, nevertheless, gray fly larvae, bud moth, shoot galice, weevil or raspberry beetle appeared, then spray the bushes with a solution of malathion.
Raspberry pests such as pathogenic fungal spores are more difficult to destroy.
Infection is visible by spots on the leaves. Bordeaux fluid, nitrafen solution or urea solution will help here. All bushes, not only diseased, but also those that grow next to them, are sprayed twice during the summer - before flowering and after harvesting. Affected branches are cut and burned.
Last tip: buy Patricia raspberry seedlings only from trusted sellers. Choose the strongest, with a well-developed root system and healthy kidneys. Be sure to consult with the seller on how to care. Despite the fact that we gave the most complete information, there is always an amendment for the region in which you live - the conditions for growing raspberries in Siberia and in Crimea are very different.