For people who want fruit, and want it fast from their garden berries may be the answer. Blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, gooseberries all apply, but the best may be red raspberries. Other berries have a weakness or two; rasps have only strengths.

Fifteen minutes picking a 20-foot row can yield a quart basket, and there will be more tomorrow, and the next day. This bounty will last at least three weeks, longer if you plant an "everbearing" variety like "Heritage."

Raspberry roots are perennial, but each cane lives just two seasons. In the first year it grows 4 to 6 feet. The following spring it produces sideshoots that yield fruit in early summer. Everbearing varieties differ slightly: New canes produce fruit late the first year, then early the next, so the harvest lasts from summer until frost.

Pests and disease rarely trouble raspberries, and they grow in a wide range of climates. It is recommend installing posts along the rows and fastening wires 2 feet and 5 feet above the ground. As new canes grow, tie them to the trellis. During the summer, thin out excess new canes so they stand about 6 inches apart, and remove old canes when they stop bearing fruit. Use a rich, organic mulch and you'll harvest troves of fruit for years.

PLANTING GUIDE

ZONES: 4-9

LIGHT: Full sun

SOIL: Well drained

HEIGHT: 4 to 6 feet

HARVEST: Summer and fall