Raspberries

Small fruits (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, blueberries, muscadine grapes) are much easier to grow than large fruits (apples, peaches, etc) and I find raspberries the easiest of all and they are my favorite.  I pretty much ignore my Nova raspberries.  I put compost around the roots when I have extra, cut back the canes after fruiting, pull out excess canes and weed around them.  They reward me with two flushes of fruit a year, a large flush in spring and a smaller flush, of often larger fruit, in late summer to fall.  Voles have done some damage, but not enough to really stop these vigorous canes.
Yesterday I made the jewel of a pie above:  freshly picked, organic raspberries, sugar and a homemade top crust.  There are many pleasures to gardening and eating the results is the greatest reward!
Happy gardening!  (A tip: you can thicken any fruit pie filling with minute tapioca, follow package directions).