Raspberry Carmen Love - Rubus idaeus

The repeat fruiting Raspberry (Rubus idaeus) ‘Carmen Love’ is an old variety brought back into cultivation, prized for its reliability and productivity. It is self-fertile, producing small, round, red, fragrant and slightly tangy fruits from late summer until autumn. Easy to manage in rows or as a small fruiting hedge, the plant shows excellent hardiness and is pruned simply in spring, like all other repeat-flowering raspberries.

The ‘Carmen Love’ raspberry belongs to the Rosaceae family. It is a descendant of Rubus idaeus, a native species of Eurasia. The specific name idaeus refers to Mount Ida of Greco-Roman antiquity, where the raspberry was common. It is also nicknamed "Ida's bramble".
The plant is an undershrub, perennial by its roots, but its aerial stems (or canes) are biennial: they bear flowers in the second year, before dying back.
In repeat-flowering varieties like ‘Carmen Love’, the main flowering and fruiting occur from late August to October. The habit is upright, slightly spreading, and the canes measure 1.20 to 1.50 m. The crown sends out suckers that ensure the clump's expansion. The deciduous leaves are compound with 3 to 7 medium green leaflets, paler and sometimes furry on the underside. The inflorescences are small clusters of flowers with 5 white petals, rich in nectar and loved by bees and bumblebees.

'Carmen Love’ produces small to medium, nicely rounded, uniform bright red raspberries, grouped in easy-to-pick clusters. Their flesh is fragrant, with an authentic flavour of wild raspberry, and slightly tangy. The main harvest is spread from August to September, or even October, depending on exposure and the mildness of late autumn; a small early summer harvest only appears if some of the previous year's canes are kept.

To harvest, pick very regularly, every two to three days, detaching the fruits when they come away effortlessly from the white cone.
The raspberries keep in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days (up to a week if cooled very quickly), and are suitable for freezing.
In the kitchen, they can be eaten fresh, in coulis, jams, sorbets, tarts and pastries; their aroma holds up well in jam and frozen fruit. 
In the garden, plant this small fruit in humus-bearing, light, moist, but well-drained, slightly acidic soil; avoid damp hollows and mulch to regulate water and limit weeds. 
The simplest method of pruning repeat flowering varietie is to cut all canes to the ground in late winter.

Plant ‘Carmen Love’ with soft fruit plants with complementary cycles: Blackcurrant ‘Noir de Bourgogne’ and Gooseberry ‘Invicta’ for early summer harvests, Blueberry ‘Bluecrop’ and Jostaberry for the mid-season, then a Thornless Blackberry ‘Loch Ness’ and a Saskatoon Amelanchier alnifolia ‘Greatberry Farm’ to extend the picking season. At its base, plant some repeat flowering Strawberries ‘Mara des Bois’ and useful perennials like Borage, Phacelia or Chives, which attract pollinators.