Rasps and Roses

Looking out the window this morning, the garden is in a terrible state - the mild weather has seen the grass continue to grow quite vigorously so it is now more like a field than a lawn, and there are the woody stalks from dead or dormant plants all over the place.

Clearly, I have a lot of work to do.

On top of all of this, I am acutely aware that I haven't pruned anything yet either - roses (that didn't get done last year either) and raspberries being the main two; I assume that I am safe to do the roses just now (@wiseowl?), but am less sure about the raspberries.

Last year was their first year, starting out as bareroot plants that were planted late November 2014. They fruited, but not massively, and did so over quite a long period so I am unsure what pruning category that would put them in?

Also, how to prune them - what do I prune off?

Finally, I planted a couple of gooseberry plants, and a couple of blackcurrant plants last summer which hopefully spent last year getting themselves comfortable enough to give some fruit this year - what, if anything, do I need to do with them (pruning wise)?

 

Hi @fat controller my friend my advice is to leave your Roses until late March as we don't know if the frosts might come again

 

Do you know the variety of raspbarry FC? There are two types: summer and autumn and they must be pruned appropriately.

Leave the gooseberry and blackcurrants alone until they establish.


I'll leave rose advice to Woo et al

 

and I shall leave the above for my friend @JWK

 

@JWK - the rasps are Tadmore and Autumn Bliss (just checked on the invoice), so that tells us about one of them. The real problem is that they are all planted in a row, and I have absolutely no idea which is which

@wiseowl - thank you for the advice regarding the roses; I am so glad that I didn't dive out there today and start snipping away

 

Ooops! Autumn Bliss produces fruit on next years growth and needs chopping down to the ground now, whilst Tadmoor produces fruit on last year's growth so old canes should have been pruned after it finished fruiting last year.

I had a similar problem when I took over my allotment I had no idea what was what, however I did manage to see some canes had obviously borne fruit (remains of flower/fruit bearing branches) you can safely prune these out now. The rest I took a 50:50 gamble removing half the canes on each plant so at least I got some fruit. Over the summer it was obvious which were the early ones, so maybe next season try and label up your early summer fruiting canes as Tadmoor.

 

Just remembered @fat controller : I grow Tadmoor and it is practically thornless (a few down at the base) whereas I think Autumn Bliss has thorns, that might help you tell them apart.