[bythebooksue]

Hi
I'm sure I'm not the only new allotment holder to inherit one of these, but 2 years on, I'm still not sure what to do with it. There are far too many plants for my needs, they take up too much space, they have obviously been there for years - though the berries are still pretty good, and they are so overcrowded I can barely get into the centre to pick them!
My current plan (having just cut the canes down) is to reduce the bed's width by half (so I can reach both sides to pick) and grow something else in the other half (after a bit of feeding).
I'm sure I've read that raspberries should be replaced after 7 years or something though -so maybe I should be digging up the lot? Seems a shame - and the thing about the overcrowding is that at least it's kept the weeds at bay! What have other folk done? Who's got the oldest raspberries?

[Trillium]

I've never heard that raspberries live only 7 years. Mine won't believe it. As long as they've got soil, they'll keep growing.
To solve your problem you can easily thin out some plants from the remaining strip, save only the vigorous and (soon) green stems, along with some brown for this year's fruiting - assuming you have the summer cropping variety. I imagine others on your lotty site would appreciate what you don't need. No point keeping what you can't really use.

[Trillium]

If the crop is indeed autumn (everbearing) raspberries, then you'd still need to dig out excess plants and in spring cut down the remaining to about 6" tall and the new sprouts will give you the fruit.

[Poolfield2]

Don't delay, definitely dig up more than half, given a chance they will take over the world, they are like fruiting Triffids in my garden they come up 20' from the "mother plants"

[JayG]

I agree with Poolfield, if they didn't bear such delicious fruits they would probably be regarded as an invasive pest!

Because they are quite shallow-rooted they are not that difficult to dig up; I think you should consider digging the whole lot up and replanting some good live roots where you really want them.