🍇 When to Plant Raspberries

🥬 Vegetable
Cool Season

Summer-bearing or ever-bearing; prune floricanes after harvest; spreads by runners

📅 Planting Calendar by USDA Zone

Select your zone to highlight your exact planting dates. Dates are calculated from each zone's average frost dates.

Find my zone
Zone Last Frost Start Indoors Transplant Direct Sow
Zone 2A May 30 May 2
Zone 3B May 15 Apr 17
Zone 4A May 8 Apr 10
Zone 4B May 1 Apr 3
Zone 5A Apr 25 Mar 28
Zone 5B Apr 18 Mar 21
Zone 6A Apr 21 Mar 24
Zone 6B Apr 10 Mar 13
Zone 7A Apr 5 Mar 8
Zone 7B Mar 28 Feb 28
Zone 8A Mar 20 Feb 20
Zone 8B Mar 12 Feb 12
Zone 9A Feb 28 Jan 31
Zone 9B Feb 15 Jan 18
Zone 10A Feb 1 Jan 4
Zone 10B Jan 15 Dec 18
Zone 11A Jan 1 Dec 4

Raspberries are a prime-and-harvest crop — learn the simple pruning rhythm and you’ll get buckets of fruit every year.

Top Growing Tips

  • Summer-bearing: prune out floricanes (second-year canes) after harvest
  • Ever-bearing: cut all canes to ground in fall for one big fall harvest
  • Mulch heavily to suppress weeds and keep roots cool
  • Raspberries spread via underground runners — contain with edging
  • Plant in a location with good air circulation to reduce fungal disease

Companion Planting

Good companions: garlic, marigolds, yarrow

Avoid planting near: blackberries (share verticillium wilt), nightshades

Harvest Timeline

Year 2+ after planting; summer or fall depending on variety