The number of gardeners who grow raspberries in containers on the patio is limited: they’re just too big and sprawling and thorny and likely to take your eye out as you pass by. Well, all that’s about to change with the arrival of the very first patio raspberry, ‘Ruby Beauty’.
Let’s start with the facts. ‘Ruby Beauty’ grows just 90cm (3ft) tall, has no thorns and usually needs no support. It branches repeatedly so, in spite of its dwarf height, produces about 1.5kg (3lb 6oz) of raspberries from each plant, all with that classic raspberry flavour. Immediately after you’ve picked the fruit, cut out the canes that produced it and you’re done. You can even do the pruning sat on a chair with a glass of wine on your patio table! And you won't need gloves.
Planting three plants in a forty litre pot is probably the most effective approach, although one plant could go in a ten litre pot. And of course, after pruning, you could slip in a few plants of a quick growing climber, such as canary creeper, Tropaeolum perigrinum, for some late summer colour.
‘Ruby Beauty’ can also be grown as a dwarf hedge, in which case set the plants 1m (3ft) apart, and is well worth growing in the fruit garden or on the allotment – simply because with its modest height and thornless stems it’s easier to manage than many taller varieties.
You can order plants of raspberry ‘Ruby Beauty’, from Thompson & Morgan.
Images courtesy of Thompson & Morgan.
** Please note the contents of this blog reflect the views of its author and are not necessarily those of the RHS **
See RHS advice on cultivating raspberries
RHS Grow Your Own - Raspberries
