You will love growing raspberries right on the porch, patio, and deck! 'Glencoe' is a cross of a black and a red raspberry, and the result is gourmet fruit on a habit so compact, you could put this shrub in a large pot!
'Glencoe' is self-fertile, so you need only one -- though once you taste these dark red to purple berries, you'll wish you had a dozen plants! -- and it has only a scattering of soft thorns, which makes harvesting a wonderfully pain-free process for you. In the garden, it will reach its full size of 2-5 feet tall and 4-5 feet wide, but in containers, it adapts to the available root space.
This luscious raspberry harvests in fall, following small spring blooms. Prune it each year to increase its multi-stemmed bushiness and stimulate new blooming and fruiting, and you're done! Full sun and plenty of water are all it needs!
Raspberries like full sun and good air circulation. They do best in enriched garden soil that is moisture retentive but well-drained. Plant about 3 feet apart in the row, or train up a trellis. Plant about 1 inch deep in heavy soils, 2 inches in loose, sandy soils. For best growth, cut back immediately after planting, to prevent the plant from setting fruit the first year. This will give you much stronger growth and better harvests in years to come. Water well during growth, and consider mulching to conserve water until the following spring, when the mulch should be removed to let the plants warm up.
