Labels come in all shapes, sizes and styles.

It is important to keep plant labels, preferably inserting them next to where the plant was put. But failing that, at least keep the label in a safe spot – a box or envelope or suchlike so that it can readily be accessed for future reference.

As a Master Gardener it is often difficult to give advice on how to grow something when the owner has no idea as to what variety it is. A case in point was the “non-fruiting raspberries” that a grower was complaining about. She had been told that you cut all canes to the ground in spring, but she never had a raspberry to eat. I asked what variety they were but she had no idea as she had thrown away the labels, but then luckily recalled that, “It was something like Shortcake”. Without a label or a notion of which variety the plant was, helping to solve the problem relies on a fair measure of guesswork.

From her recollection, I knew immediately that her pruning regime was completely wrong. She had been cutting to ground level all the stems that would bear fruit that year because that particular variety is a floricane bearer, but it had erroneously been pruned as though it was a primocane bearer. Not all raspberries are the same!

Keep the labels of fruit trees that you plant, too. Moving into a house with an established garden, we became owners of a very old peach tree which gives wonderful crops of excellent-flavored peaches every year. The tree itself has many sun-scorched branches and is well on its way to dying. I should love to replace it with a younger version, but have so far not been able to identify which variety it is.

If you grow roses, before long many of the names will be forgotten and you may want more of the same variety, or like me want to make sure that you don't buy a “mistake” again! In this case it was one called 'Westerland' which has beautiful flowers but the most ferocious thorns making gardening around it a misery.

Fruit and vegetable plant varieties and cultivars are important since they provide differing flavors, sizes, hardiness, crop yields, and flowering times. We go to endless trouble to buy the right sort of car, or breed of dog, but many people buy an apple without realizing that it may need a special pollinator in order to set fruit, or buy an apricot that may be a variety that blooms so early that it will inevitably be frosted in or erratic climate.

Most labels will have vital information to help you decide whether your purchase is likely to ensure that you are planting “the right plant in the right place” and not putting a 50 foot tall tree under powerlines, planting a zone 8 plant in Mammoth Lakes, or buying an acid-loving plant for a garden with strongly alkaline soil.

When you have planted your new acquisition keep the label!

Then you will:

• Learn the correct name of the plant and remember it.
• Remember where you planted things that die down in the winter and so avoid planting something else on top of it. Especially important with bulbs.
• Be able to exactly replace it if it dies, or buy more of the same if it is a plant that you really like or does exceptionally well.
• Be able to look up further information regarding its care and special needs.
• Know for certain which tomato is which in a tray of seedlings so that you won't accidentally give away the one that you really, really wanted to try!
• Be able to leave instructions for a specific plant if someone else is caring for your garden or harvesting produce when you are on vacation.
• Accurately know the name of any seeds or bulbs that you save.

Labels come in all shapes and sizes but whereas those marking vegetables are only needed to last a season, long-term landscaping plants require more durable markers if they are to be of any use. For information and suggestions on materials to use check out the following website:

https://marylandgrows.umd.edu/2018/05/04/the-importance-of-being-labeled/

And one final thought: Unless you plan to check on them often, the place to keep plant labels is not on tree branches. They either blow away eventually, or if they are durable, may girdle branches in the future.

When we first moved to the Owens Valley 12 years ago we inherited a well-stocked garden, one feature of which was a border of raspberries. Sadly, I forgot to ask the previous homeowner which variety they were. I was amazed to think that one could grow these in a place which has such hot summers, since I had always been taught that raspberries grow in much more equable climates such as the Pacific Northwest.

However, these plants did not let me down and produced a crop on the one-year-old stems (floricanes) in late May/early June followed by a smaller crop in fall on the current season's growth (primocanes) in October. They are growing in front of an east-facing 6' high wooden fence so they get morning and early afternoon sun. They are drip irrigated with two parallel lines about 16 inches apart with in-line emitters every 12 inches.

The canes are sturdy, self-supporting, slightly spiny, 3'-4' high and do not need to be staked. The berries are not particularly large but are firm and hold up well in the freezer. The flavor is good but not exceptional.

However, in recent years the fall crop has failed. Although flowers appear in September and are worked enthusiastically by bees the young berries have been destroyed by an early frost (although after the damage was done the weather warmed up considerably for several days afterwards).

Then I made my big mistake! I came across a variety called 'Joan J' in a catalog and it was described as the earliest of the fall fruiting varieties. That would surely miss the frost and furthermore the stems are spineless, berries large and with very good flavor. Just what I needed – or so I thought.

I cleared some of my old canes and replaced as much of the soil as I could and planted in the spring. They grew extremely vigorously and before long I was hammering in stakes and stringing wires in order to keep up with them, but even so some of the canes did not get tied in and the lush green growth soon flopped over.

I was excited to see the first flowers appearing in late June—huge panicles of blooms on the tips of the new stems. And that was when the problem began! I had lost a tree that had provided some shade to the canes so the plants were getting too much sun right in the middle of summer when our temperatures were soaring well into the 100°F range. As a result the berries were either drying into a pippy mess or cooking in the hot sun which attracted a goodly number of green stink bugs. I had very few berries that were suitable for harvest but they did have a strong and wonderful flavor. Many of the tips had flopped over the supporting wire so that the stems were bent double and of course this resulted in the berries dying.

Another problem was that these plants did not stay put neatly in the row where they were planted and have spread themselves into adjoining crops of strawberries and rhubarb.

Rethinking the Problem

After a few disappointing seasons my choices appear to be:

• To abandon this variety altogether and choose a variety that will ripen in September
• To try and rig up some sort of shade cloth which will not take off in the wind
• Replant them in a more open area where perhaps they would get less reflected heat from the fence, but I would have to sacrifice some other crop to do that
• Concentrate on growing floricane fruiting varieties which give a single good crop in June before one gets busy dealing with tree fruits

Any suggestions that I haven't thought of? Feel free to leave your comments below.

To learn more about raising raspberries in our area see this link: https://ucanr.edu/sites/newinyomonomg/Eastern_Sierra_Gardening/Fruits/Raspberries/

By Susanne von Rosenberg, UC Master Gardener of Napa County

One of the joys of summer is being able to harvest fresh, perfectly ripened fruit from your own garden. December and January are the best months to plant bare-root fruit trees and berries so you can enjoy the bounty in summers to come.

Unlike fruit trees, most berries provide a quick return on your efforts. Strawberries bear fruit the same year you plant them, and blackberries and raspberries produce the year after you plant them. Blueberries are more complicated to grow (they need acidic soil to thrive), but also usually start to produce some fruit in the second year.

Berry plants are less expensive than fruit trees, and if you choose the right kinds, you can expand your berry patch over time. The main drawback to berries is that they all have relatively high water needs.

Brambleberry is another name for blackberries and raspberries. Boysenberries, marionberries and ollalieberries are all varieties of blackberries. Blackberries are well suited to our Napa Valley climate. (In fact, boysenberries were developed here.) Raspberries also do well in all but our hottest areas.

While it's easy to get blackberry and raspberry seedlings from friends (many brambleberries produce suckers from their roots), it's best to start with certified disease-free nursery stock. You can always expand your berry patch by planting some of the suckers. Blackberries and black and purple raspberries also tip-root. If the tip of a cane touches moist ground, it will grow roots from that tip.

To produce well, brambleberries should be planted in full sun. In hotter areas, raspberries benefit from some afternoon shade. Care of brambleberries is fairly simple. Fertilize them once a year at the start of the growing season and keep the soil moist, not soggy, throughout the growing season. The berries also need pruning each year.

Blackberries yield fruit on canes that grew the previous year. The canes growing in the current year are called primocanes. Nurseries sell both erect and trailing varieties of blackberries; trailing varieties need a trellis. Erect varieties have sturdier canes, but the canes will still tip over when they get long, so these varieties also benefit from a trellis. Install trellises when plants are small to minimize root damage.

Most blackberry varieties have thorns, but there are thornless types. I used to be suspicious of thornless varieties, assuming that I would have to sacrifice flavor or vigor for convenience. A couple of years ago, I finally tried a thornless variety, Triple Crown. I was happily surprised by the great flavor and vigor, both of which compare favorably with the boysenberries I have been growing for a long time. To extend your harvest, choose blackberry varieties with different ripening periods.

Raspberries come in four colors: red, yellow, purple and black. The cultivation process for yellow and red raspberries is the same. Red raspberry varieties come in two types: summer bearing and fall bearing. Summer-bearing raspberries produce canes that grow one year, then primarily bear fruit the following year. Summer bearers produce some fruit on the tips of the current season's canes, but a larger crop is produced on one-year-old canes.

Fall-bearing raspberries do the opposite: they bear large crops on the top parts of the current season's canes in late summer and fall. If left to overwinter, canes bear a second crop in the spring, on the lower portions of the canes that fruited the previous year.

My new favorite red raspberry variety is Nova. It is vigorous, has great flavor and has consistently been the earliest and latest producer in my raspberry patch.

Black raspberries (you may have heard them called black caps when you were growing up) and purple raspberries grow on arched or trailing canes. Black and purple raspberries only sprout new canes from the crown (the base of existing canes) or through tip-rooting. Fruit grows on laterals coming from the main canes, so they are pruned differently from blackberries and red raspberries.

To keep your berry patch fruitful, prune out the old (non-fruiting) canes and excess canes. Remove fruiting canes of blackberries and summer-bearing raspberries after they are done fruiting. Then tie up the primocanes.

For trailing varieties, cut the new canes to 8 to 10 feet and loop them around the trellis wires. Fall-bearing raspberries can either be cut to the ground after the fall crop, or you can cut off the top portions of the canes that fruited and get a small spring crop on the lower parts of the canes.

Prune black and purple raspberries to a height of 24 to 30 inches after fruiting. In early spring, cut back any laterals that sprouted to 8 to 10 inches. During the dormant season remove all dead, damaged, weak and diseased canes from all brambleberries. Remove all but 4 to 5 of the most vigorous canes from the crowns of black and purple raspberries and 8 to 10 canes for blackberries. Aim for 4 to 5 strong canes per foot for red raspberries. With the right care through the year, your berries should provide a bountiful harvest.

Napa Library Talks: First Thursday of each month. Register to get Zoom link. Thursday, January 7: Bare Root Basics.

Free Rose Pruning and Winter Care Workshop: Saturday, January 9. Register for the Zoom link.

Got Garden Questions? Contact our Help Desk. The team is working remotely so please submit your questions through our diagnosis form, sending any photos to mastergardeners@countyofnapa.org or leave a detailed message at 707- 253-4143. A Master Gardener will get back to you by phone or email. For more information visit http://napamg.ucanr.edu or find us on Facebook or Instagram, UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.

When growers are considering a new crop to plant, and penciling out their expenses and income, cost estimates from the University of California may help. A new cost and return study for commercially producing raspberries released by UC ANR Agricultural Issues Center and UC Cooperative Extension includes an expanded section on labor.

Sample costs to establish, produce and harvest raspberries for fresh market in Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito counties are presented in “Sample Costs to Produce and Harvest Fresh Market Raspberries in the Central Coast Region – 2017.”

“The study focuses on the many complexities and costs of primocane raspberry production over a three-year period, including crop establishment, fertility practices, overhead tunnel management, harvest and rising labor costs," said Mark Bolda, UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor and co-author of the study.

The analysis is based upon a hypothetical well-managed farming operation using practices common to the region. The costs, materials, and practices shown in this study will not apply to all farms. Growers, UC Cooperative Extension farm advisors and other agricultural associates provided input and reviewed the methods and findings of the study.

“This raspberry cost and return study is the result of significant effort on the part of UC Cooperative Extension, the Agricultural Issues Center and several grower and industry collaborators, who shared their expertise and contributed mightily to the end product,” said Laura Tourte, UC Cooperative Extension farm management advisor and co-author of the study.

This study assumes a farm size of 45 contiguous acres of rented land. Raspberries are planted on 42 acres. The crop is hand-harvested and packed into 4.5-pound trays. There is a fall harvest during production year 1, a spring and fall harvest during production year 2, and a spring harvest during production year 3. Each harvest is three months long.

The authors describe the assumptions used to identify current costs for production material prices and yields. Tables show the phase-in schedules for California's minimum wage and overtime laws through the year 2022. Other tables show the monthly cash costs, the costs and returns per acre, hourly equipment costs, and the whole farm annual equipment, investment and business overhead costs.

Free copies of “Sample Costs to Produce and Harvest Fresh Market Raspberries in the Central Coast Region - 2017” can be downloaded from the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics website https://coststudies.ucdavis.edu. Sample cost of production studies for many other commodities are also available at the website.

The cost and returns studies program is funded by the UC Agricultural Issues Center and UC Cooperative Extension, both of which are part of the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.

For additional information or an explanation of the calculations used in the studies, contact the UC Agricultural Issues Center at (530) 752-4651 or UC Cooperative Extension advisors Mark Bolda at (831) 763-8025 or Laura Tourte at (831) 763-8005 in Santa Cruz County.