Extension office teaches how to grow raspberries

Jefferson County Iowa State University Extension and Outreach taught a group of a dozen people earlier this month how to plant raspberries in their garden.

Taylor Trudell, extension horticulturist, led the program, which involved building a pair of raspberry beds at the extension office's 'Giving Garden.” The Giving Garden is located behind the campgrounds at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds.

Thanks to a $2,500 'Growing Together” grant from the United State Department of Agriculture, the extension office and Jefferson County Master Gardeners have been able to grow food in the Giving Garden for The Lord's Cupboard, and to educate the public on how to grow their own food. The Giving Garden, which was built last year, produced more than 500 pounds of fruit and vegetables for The Lord's Cupboard during its first year, and Trudell said the gardeners are planning to top that figure this year.

'We grow mainly produce such as peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, potatoes, onions and cabbage,” Trudell said. 'We've got some beans and peas, too, and this year we planted garlic.”

Trudell said that many of the 12 people who attended the June 1 event on raspberries had never seen the Giving Garden before. She said raspberries are great for people wanting to grow more of their own food because raspberries are a relatively easy plant to grow.

The group planted raspberries in two soil beds and built a trellis network above them. As the raspberry plant grows, its branches droop and touch the ground. That's why the participants built a trellis, a pair of wires suspended a few feet off the ground that the raspberry plants could grow over.

According to Richard Jauron of the ISU Department of Horticulture, suspending the plants over a trellis keeps their fruit cleaner and easier to pick. It also reduces crop losses due to storms.

Trudell said the trellis makes the fruits less accessible to rabbits and other animals that want to eat them. Unfortunately, lots of animals such as birds like to eat berries, so it's impossible to keep them all away, but the trellis helps.

'Even my dog likes to eat them,” Trudell said.

Taylor said the participants built two beds to house nine raspberry plants of different varieties. Some will fruit once, whereas others will fruit twice.

'The exciting thing is that we'll get fruit the whole year because of the different cultivars we're planting. They'll mature at different times. The ones that fruit twice will come in late spring and early fall, and those that fruit only once will come in the summer,” Trudell said.

Jefferson County's horticulturist said that, in addition to being hardy and productive plants, raspberries are a nice crop for home gardens because they're perennials, coming back each year.

'You can plant raspberries once and it's done; you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor year after year,” she said.

Those who are interested in volunteering at the Giving Garden by watering the plants or pulling weeds (which they do every Wednesday) can email Trudell at tru@iastate.edu, or call the extension office at 472-4166.