Transplanting Rhubarb & Raspberries

Spring seems to be coming early this year. That may just be because I'm paying attention. The bulbs are poking their heads up, the trees and shrubs are budding.

And the raspberries are budding. Even the rhubarb is beginning to think about leaves.

In the ongoing update of the vegetable garden's raised beds, we accomplished an important milestone today.

We decided what to do with the raspberries and rhubarb! We've been really uncertain about that for a long time.

At issue: we're replacing all the low, wooden (rotting) raised beds with taller ones that bring the dirt up to counter high.

This is much easier for these knees, for this back. And we're using galvanized steel, so it shouldn't rot for a hundred years or more.

We decided on downsizing both, though that wasn't a surprise. The rhubarb is going in one of the galvanized bins. It's only getting half a bin, though I'm sure it would like more. I'll have some to give away.

And the raspberries will be at the very front of the garden in front of the very first raised bed.

We "graze" the berries, we don't harvest them. And this way, the berries are:

a) at ground level (not at counter height) for easy reaching, and
b) the very front of the garden, in easy grazing range.

That raised bed will be challenging to reach from the front, but it will be easy enough to reach from behind.  

Before I was done, I mulched the rhubarb (and the asparagus) with mushroom compost.