Nice fence Jason. Looks like it would be a good spot for any brambles but as Floral mentioned those roots will send up canes on the other side of the fence. If it's your property you can just keep them mowed to soil.

A problem may occur with canes draping over your driveway requiring stakes and added support. Driving stakes into ground may be an issue with the gas co. There is also the unlikely event that the gas co. needs to excavate the area. I'd hate to lose a ripening raspberry crop under those conditions.

You could just use the fence posts to anchor wires or retainers. No need to dig new holes imo.

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK My neighbor owns that section. We are on really good terms. I have a 2 year old who loves raspberries and blueberries. She will run over there and sit and pick berries and eat them off the bush directly. They think it is hilarious. I decided to plant some raspberries because we go through so many of them and I felt guilty eating so many of theirs.

I live in the pacific northwest so we get TONS of water. I was going to build a 2' (thanks for the correction) to give it better soil to work with. It will have plenty of water. I am more concerned about enough sunlight. I am planting 9 or so bushes so even if I get limited fruit production, between them all it should be okay. This is probably one of the only places I have on my property to plant these. I have 2/3rds an acre, but a majority of it is a forested hill.

Since I live in the PNW, we have tons of wild blackberries. In fact, I have quite a few on my property that my garden likes to whack down. I am going to try to ask him to be cautious so I can get more this year.

Barrie, (Central PA, zone 6a) I expect these to get larger and will need to have support. I am hoping that with adding a 2' raised bed there, it will give me more depth to work with stakes. Or I can attach something directly to the fence to help. Do you have any links or suggestions for good supports next to a fence?

See "Growing Raspberries in Your Home Garden"

https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/sites/catalog/files/project/pdf/ec1306.pdf

One foot is deep enough soil to grow raspberries. I would put a horizontal strut on each fence post about 3 feet up. Struts should be long enough to reach just over halfway to the driveway edge. then run a wire or cord through the struts to keep the canes from leaning into the drive.

Okay, If I put up a 1 foot raised bed ontop of the dirt there, then that should be plenty then correct? And no need to be worried about utility lines running under there and being damaged?

Could you not just put them in very large containers? If utility line access is ever needed to you can just move them out of the way. The 25 gallon fabric pots I use for blueberries are 22 inches in diameter and 16 inches deep.

That is a very interesting idea. Are those big enough to support raspberries?

On another note, I planned on doing blueberries in fabric pots and I was going to do 15 gallon ones. Are the 25 gallon ones necessary?

I spose it just depends on the size of the plant and how big you want it to get. I've seen a few threads on container raspberries and I have already ordered 15 raspberry plants from Nurse farms to try in 20 gallon fabric pots this year.

Here's a link to someone's thread on raspberries in 15 gallon fabric pots -

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/3048620/fabric-containers-and-5-1-1-results

Thanks Adam! I just ordered some cedar boards to build the bed last night. but I think I am going to cancel that and do raspberries in 25 gallon fabric pots instead.

Adam, what type of grow medium do you want to use in the fabric pots? I have read using potting soil with a top layer of compost. Then I read for container raspberries to use a soiless medium. I do hydroponics also so I gave hydroton, perlite, and Coco coir around as well.

My blueberries have been doing pretty well in equal parts peat, bagged compost (pine and chicken crap), and pine bark. I bought the mini nugget pine bark at home depot and sifted it through 1/2 inch hardware cloth. Anything under 1/2 inch got mixed into the potting mixture, anything larger than 1/2 inch went on top as mulch. I am planning on doing something similar this year for raspberries and blackberries just with a smaller % peat moss since they don't need as low a pH. I'm sure if you asked 100 people you'd get 100 different suggestions.

Luckily for us brambles are one step above weeds and can grow in just about anything as long as they don't dry out or drown. I use hydroton for indoor lettuce growing and I just can't see it retaining enough water unless you wanted to water them several times a day in the summer. I kept my pots on upside down milk crates last year to promote drainage and averaged two - three waterings per week in 90-100 degree weather. They were dangerously top heavy though so this year I think I'll cut some pallets in half to make a bunch 2x4 foot platforms to elevate them on along my fence.