Raspberries are in Season

Raspberry Season. Can we describe how lovely it is to go out into the Potager every morning and return with cups of raspberries. Some go in the freezer for winter munching, and the rest go into our oatmeal.

Raspberries are very difficult to transport. Whenever I bought them in the store they would be mushy. But not the raspberries from the Potager. They are heavenly.

 Deer do not eat raspberries. Hello, did you hear that? My raspberries grow outside the fenced in Potager with no problems, except for occasional insects and birds. The insects get treated with insecticidal soap before the raspberries form and, if needed, with siposad after (I have it on hand but have not yet needed it - it is safe for organic gardens.) The birds don't even eat very many. Every morning there is at least 2 cups - and remember, my raspberry bed is small, about 2 by 4 feet.

The canes only have sharp thorns when very young and they bear fruit the second year, so it is not the painful wild raspberry picking experience I remember as a child. The small thorns visible in the photo above do not scratch at all.In the fall I remove all the canes that have bloomed that year and also remove any canes that look sick or damaged.
That is it. Easy to maintain, easy to grow, easy to eat. Raspberries, yum.