Hi Ellie. If your raspberries dont do well where you are, get rid of them
and put in blackberries. I grew them in Arkansas, and when we moved to
Kansas I brought them with me. They are doing very well as far as growing
normally is concerned, and we got our first crop off of them this year. The
only problem is that they arent as sweet as in Arkansas, and I attribute
that to the soil pH. Arkansas is more acidic (ph of about 6 where we were,
and it is about 7.5 here). Have fun with your experiments, I know I do.
Someone tells me "you cant grow that here", but doesnt tell me why, I take
it more as a challenge than advice.

Dwayne

"jay jay" wrote in message
...

Ellie C Wrote:
Hi All,

I recently moved to the south of France from the northeast part of the
US, so I'm completely unused to the new climate, and am not sure what
to
expect. I have planted some raspberry bushes and I'm wondering if I
should expect them to shed their leaves in the autumn, or if they stay
green all year. Where I'm from, in Massachusetts, the leaves would
have
fallen by now, so I'm just a bit surprised to see these small plants
looking very green and happy.

Do they need any special treatment to make them stop growing before
winter (such as it is) sets in? Stop watering them perhaps?

Thanks,

Ellie (whose French isn't yet up to posting in the French gardening
group!)


Hi Ellie,

Greetings from the Dordogne! I have just been out to have a look at my
raspberry plants and the leaves are just turning red/brown, before they
die down for the winter. As you are in the south of France, your
season is probably a bit later than here. I'm pretty new to gardening
so I don't know a lot about raspberries - but I can help on a couple of
things. Raspberries are a cold weather fruit (I come from Scotland
where they grow beautifully). This year my three raspberry bushes
produced three fruits between them. I can only put that down to the
hot, dry weather we had in June. Next year I am going to move them to
a shadier part of the garden and also try some autumn fruiting
varieties. Hope this helps.

Jay Jay


--
jay jay