Gardening by Osmosis

My sister makes the best raspberry pie. She says the ticket to growing healthy berries is to start with new plants. Raspberries are not fussy about soil pH and seem happy with Spokane County gardens' soils. Prepare the soil with a balanced fertilizer and organic amendments early in the spring, then plant bare-root raspberry canes about two feet apart. Raspberries grow a long time. I planted some when my baby was two and they produced until he graduated from high school.

A raspberry's first-year growth, the primocane, is spent growing leaves. The floricane or second year's growth produces berri...