[Sue32]

Just moved to a new house and I'm about to convert part of my lawn to fruit.  I want 3 *  rows of raspberries (3 varieties).  My soil is about 4" of lawn / topsoil then its stoney/shale.  Very tough to dig and little goodness.

How far apart should the  rows be?  I don't want take up more lawn than I have to.

Can I just dig a trench where the rows of fruit will go and fill with good stuff - if so how wide since I know they spread. Should  I leave a path between the rows Or do I need to dig over the whole area?

thanks for any help and wise words

[daisy1990]

when I did a similar thing I double dug a trench about a spade width and two spades deep.  I dug in home produced compost and dug out stones.  I planted the canes about 10 inches apart and tied them in (post at each end of the trench and wires a foot apart). I had great success with Autumn bliss rasperries and another variety whose name I forget.  I would leave enough room between rows to walk between

[Sue32]

thanks Daisy, I'll give it a go.

[Nobbie]

It's easy to think you don't need much space between rows when you're planting the twigs, but I think 6 foot between rows is the minimum so that you can get between then once they're fully grown. I dug two foot wide trenches which I keep weed free and mulched and then laid paving slabs between the rows. You still get a few canes pushing up through the gaps, but it's quite managable.