Raspberries are ridiculously expensive in stores, probably because they have to be hand-picked and are very delicate little fruit and they don't last very long after picking. But, raspberry canes are extremely productive, and with a little bit of care and attention you can provide yourself with these tasty, zingy treats for most of the summer. Any investment you make in buying canes will pay you back within a couple years. After that the rest is just gravy. Or something.
The kind you want to get are the 'everbearing' variety, which means that they'll fruit twice in one season. Yes, even in Canada. I also got a variety that also has fewer prickles on the canes. This is a good thing come picking time.
All you need to start your patch is one cane. It will spread via roots, and you can help it along by making your own rootings from the ends. When the cane becomes so long it can touch the ground plant the tip in a pot and water it well (it will be like a prickly rainbow). When the end grows roots cut the plant in the middle and then you have two plants. Easy-peasy.
Raspberries can deal with a bit of shade, but they produce more abundantly in full sun. They also like well-drained soil, so don't put them in a soggy corner of your yard. If you're making a new bed dig in a bit of nicely composted manure to start them off well.
Fruit is produced during the second year of growth. The first year establishes the cane and the second is when the fruit develops. However, the bed can become a tangled mess and foster diseases if you don't cut them back every once in a while. It improves the health of the plants to prune them by letting in air and sunlight. It's disheartening to have a lovely crop go moldy before you can get to eat them. Some people keep everything orderly by keeping their patch in rows and using stakes with strings to keep the canes more upright.
The root ball is perennial, so it will keep on producing canes year after year. Many people cut the canes after the second year and start fresh, rotating which canes they cut so that they have new raspberries each year.
The plants do like to be watered thoroughly once a week or so during hot, dry weather, and mulching will keep down the weeds and retain moisture in the soil.
Some birds *love* raspberries, so if you want to keep them all it might be a good idea to put netting around them, or set aside a portion for the birds and wildlife if you want to share.
Raspberries start to produce around the same time that strawberries stop (unless you also have everbearing strawberries, in which case, bonus).
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