We spend all of fall, and the beginning of winter, 'putting the yard to bed'. With 50+ deciduous trees, some of them gigantic, all of them dropping leaves on a different schedule, most of that process is raking and mulching leaves (some of them are in the raised beds below), then pruning. It seems like a race to put the yard to bed before it starts to get up again. This winter has been mild so far, and the raspberries are budding already. So even though it feels a bit odd to be dragging out the rototiller in January...
Guess it's time to dig and divide the raspberries. Between plants given us by friends, the plants in the frame that need dividing, and the ones that have wandered out of the patch altogether, there are enough plants for another 4' X 12' raspberry bed. Things are never simple, though - the new bed had long-time residents, ferns that had to be relocated to the woods (they'll be happy there, with some cousins they haven't seen in years!) and some gypsy perennials that have already been moved a time or two had to be moved again.
The blueberries got a similar treatment. We have two bushes that have been in the wrong place, shaded out by roses - they finally got to join the chorus line of blueberries along the fence, bringing the number to 7.
The old plants are not much bigger than the 5 we planted last spring, but the change of scene should do them good.
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