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"Anna Kettle" wrote in message
...

The flavour wasn't up to much so I am wondering if I should try again
next year feeding with the contents of my compost heap or whether to
buy new plants

The flavour and fruit size gradually deteriorates and after about ten years
you really should start new canes.

Last year I lifted fifty old canes, moving some over to the "wildlife"
garden. They are still cropping heavily but with small, tasteless fruits.
(The birds aren't fussed and enjoy them.) I replaced the soil in the
raspberry beds and took an expensive option by planting thirty long cane
Glen Magnas. We had a small but flavoursome crop last year. This year the
canes have tripled and we have been rewarded with bumper crops of huge,
exquisitely flavoured berries.