[londongardener]

I have grown raspberries in the past successfully, but where they were is now shady because of an apple tree.
Two years in a row I have planted them in my allotment.
Last year nothing.
This year so far no growth.
AFAIK I followed all the instructions.
A silver stemmed blackberry and a tayberry I planted at the same time (and at the end of the row) are fine.
The spot is near a blackberry hedge but there is space
Any ideas?  Could they still come up?  Can I plant more now (where I will get them from I don't know).
BTW both years I planted them in January/February

[Gardener and Rabbit]

Hi Londongardener,

Not sure that they will appear now; my raspberries are in leaf and bud already, and I'm a lot further North.

You can definitely plant them now, with the benefit that they should be showing some signs of growth. In previous years they've been on sale in the supermarkets at this time of year as special buys, that might be your best bet at the moment. I've also transplanted suckers successfully many times, around now, if anyone has some going spare.

G&R

[londongardener]

Could the problem be the soil?  I got my allotment late 2018 and it was just weeds but maybe in 2017 it was heavily limed.

[Gardener and Rabbit]

They do prefer acid soils, and dislike chalky soils, so that could be a problem if you have a chalky soil.

You can check on this map what your soil type is likely to be: Soilscapes soil types viewer - National Soil Resources Institute. Cranfield University

Also, have a look around the other plots and see if anyone else is growing them.

I'd still have expected your plants to have shown some signs of growth, even it was weak or sickly looking.

I was having a look at my own raspberries and I've got a couple of healthy suckers coming up out of the bed, if you PM me I'll wrap them up and put them in the post for you if you want to give them a try and see what happens.

G&R