In article , Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
The message
from James Fidell contains these words:

In article , nambucca wrote:

Pile loads of grass cuttihngs / compost /stable manure around the canes up
to 1 ft high ........you will be amazed at what is produced
.......Raspberry
canes need lots of compost /feeding and moisture at the roots

Could I use fresh grass cuttings for this?

No. Especially at this time of year they would extract nitrogen from the
soil as they decayed. A small amount in the autumn might not hurt, but
I'd only use well rotted stuff.

Sounds fair enough. I'm going to have to think of something to do with
fresh grass clippings as I'll have loads of them. It's quite possible that
a few feathered or four-legged lawnmowers might be the long-term solution.

The place we're in the process of buying has a very overgrown veggie
plot and we've uncovered four rows of raspberry canes amongst the
brambles and weeds. We've trimmed the stems down to around eighteen
inches high and cleared most of the taller weeds, but there are still
loads of low-growing or annual weeds.

Arrrrrrgggggghhhhhh! Take out the dead (last year's) canes and leave the
new ones alone!

Assuming they survive this year, that's what we'll do. The way things were
a month ago when we started clearing the veggie patch, I'm amazed we found
them at all. I was quite tempted to put the brush-cutter on the strimmer
and take the entire garden down to three inches high (from the three feet
high it was at the time).

As luck would have it, we also found three or four vines, a very
sad-looking rhubarb plant and what may or may not turn out to be an
asparagus bed. Oh, and what I *think* are loganberries, but may well
be something else entirely.

You can use Paraquat on weeds round the bases of rasbperries when all
the new canes have grown. Or, you can mulch with compost or bark
chippings.

Compost and/or bark chippings looks like the way forward then.

Make a proper compost heap and bung (just about) everything and anything
on it. Keep it working by adding plenty of nitrogen: the cheapest and
one of the most effective sources is urine.

Oh, the compost heap(s) will be along soon. There are actually two
large wooden compost bins there already. Unfortunately they appear to
have mostly composted themselves.

James