Tulameen Raspberry Canes

Tulameen - Late Summer Fruiting Raspberries

Tulameen is the supermarket's favourite - but don't let that put you off. They know a bright, glossy, firm, wet-weather-resistant raspberry when they see one. It's a late-cropping summer raspberry, which means it starts producing berries in mid July, and carries on fruiting until mid to late August, so the perfect partner to an earlier season variety and an autumn one, and you'll find plenty of those in our full list of raspberries. Another good reason to choose Tulameen is that it sends out nice long lateral shoots, on which the distinctive conical fruit ripen, which makes picking so much easier – and there are hardly any thorns at all.

• Size: 2m high
• Fruit: large, conical
• Taste: very sweet
• Use: eat fresh or in jams
• Picking: July to August. Freezes well
• Colour: deep pink
• Spacing: 45cm between plants
• Thornless
• RHS Plants for Pollinators
• RHS Award of Garden Merit

Berry delicious

This tall variety will do well in a sunny spot in the garden, or even in a good-sized pot if you haven't the room elsewhere. For a steady harvest of raspberries from mid June to the end of autumn, plant Tulameen with an early variety such as Malling Promise, and an autumn one such as Polka. Then harvest the sweet fruits and use them in classic English desserts such as pavlovas, fools and jellies, or make a batch of jam. If you have a glut, there's no need to worry as Tulameen will freeze well. Like all raspberries, it needs good, moist soil to thrive (extremes of dry or damp are not to their liking), so ideally dig in plenty of well-rotted manure or compost before planting. You'll need to fix them to horizontal wires and, like all summer-fruiting raspberries, cut down fruited canes to the ground in November. Leave the new canes that have yet to bear fruit, thinning them out to 20cm apart, getting rid of any that are thin or weak. In line with general practice, all our raspberries are delivered with last year's growth cut back to 45-60cm, so summer raspberries may only bear a few berries in the first summer, then many more the year after.

From across the pond

The classic Scottish summer fruit, this variety of raspberry actually originates from Canada. It's so good the UK has welcomed it with open arms (and mouths)…

Please remember to plant raspberries with their roots just under the surface. Deep planting kills them.