Be careful not to fertilize berry canes in fall
Question: Carol, I have an established raised bed of 'Willamette' raspberries. I used 2-by-10s to frame it and filled the box with compost and topsoil a few years ago. Since then, the soil and raspberries have settled about 5 inches, leaving the top half of the box empty. I'm not sure whether to add more soil around the berries to bring it up to the box height or dig up the raspberries and start over. And when would be the best time to do this?
Answer: First of all, there's no need to transplant your berry canes. Here's what to do this fall. Add some more soil or finished and cured compost later this fall or early winter, but do not fertilize your berries until the spring. Adding fertility now, in the fall, might stimulate new growth before winter, making your plants more susceptible to cold injury.
Your 'Willamette' raspberries bear fruit, all at once, early in the summer. It is known as a "summer-bearing" raspberry. They bear all their fruit over about a month of time in the summer.
Oregon State University Extension Service berry experts recommend that established summer-bearing cultivars should get a total of 2 to 3 ounces of nitrogen per 10 feet of row (12.5 to 18.7 ounces of 16-16-16 fertilizer) each year.
Late winter into spring is the best time to fertilize. Do it in three installments, over the first half of the growing season — one third in the early spring when the canes begin to grow, one-third at the end of May and one-third at the end of June.
Spread the three doses of fertilizer over the surface of the soil in the row in a band about 2 feet wide centered on the row. Irrigate right after fertilizing.
For more information, consult Oregon State University's "Growing Raspberries in Your Home Garden," EC 1306, bit.ly/1vvaB69.
Just in case you were wondering, the other kind of raspberry is everbearing. Aptly named, they bear over a longer period of the growing season.
Take cuttings from fig trees
Q: Hi Carol, We have a glorious green-fig tree that is a prolific producer with figs (taste-wise) that will knock your socks off. We share our figs with neighbors and coworkers. Several folks now want cuttings. I'm told that figs can be started from cuttings. My questions are: When is the best time to make these cuttings, and should these cuttings include the branch tip or is that necessary? Should cuttings be this year's wood or older wood?
A: There are several ways to propagate new fig plants from the mother fig tree.
The simplest and easiest method of propagating figs can be done in the fall. Dig up and transplant suckers or side shoots, with the roots intact, then plant these in a large pot full of fertile mix. Keep these plants moist and in a warm sunny window until they take root. Grow them over the winter indoors, then plant them in the ground after frost is past in the late spring.
Alternatively, in the spring, take 8- to 10-inch long cuttings of 1-year-old wood. Set the cuttings in a prepared garden bed or larger pot with fertile mix so one or two buds on the tip are above the ground. Let these grow for a season before transplanting them into their permanent site in the ground next autumn.