I ended up putting my black and red raspberries next to each other. It has been two years now and I have not seen any disease problems. My black raspberries fruit before the reds and overlap a bit with the first crop on my reds but my reds are everbearing and I prune them to get both crops. Rabbits love raspberry plants and even the nasty thorns on the black raspberries don't stop them. If you have summer bearing reds then you'll need to protect the canes over the winter or you won't get berries since they fruit on second year canes. You'll need to protect the black raspberries too since they also fruit on second year canes. Both types of raspberries spread easily, so I would leave a space between them and the veggie garden. Reds spread underground through runners and end up taking over anything planted near them. Blacks are a bit more manageable as they spread by tip rooting so you only have to keep the tips of the canes from touching the ground if you don't want more plants. You can do this through a combination of trellising and pruning.

I transplanted a big old black raspberry plant last fall. I had to cut all the canes down to two feet to fit it in the car, so it didn't produce much fruit this year, but there was a little. After cutting all the canes off I just used a shovel to dig out about a cubic foot of dirt (trying to leave the dirt around the roots to protect them). I put the dirt ball into a plastic bag, and replanted the black raspberry later that day. I also transplanted a wild black seedling I found last spring. It was identifiable mainly by the blue color of the canes. It did _not_ like being transplanted, possibly the spot I put it was too dry or too much clay. It only survived because I gave it a lot of extra water. It did not make fruit this year because it was too young/small. But it made three big canes this year so I'm hopeful they'll fruit next year. If I were to transplant it again I would not cut the canes because there are only three and the plant isn't big enough to endure that kind of abuse. Instead I would use twisty-ties to tie the three canes together and maybe put wax paper around the bundle to keep the thorns from snagging on everything. The roots I'd do the same way, dig up a generous ball of dirt and put it in a plastic bag because plastic keeps the moisture in. I don't think I'd attempt to mail one though. For the price it would take to ship one the recipient could buy a potted one locally. And the heat at this time of year is really bad for shipping live plants, those mail/ups trucks can get really hot inside.

Store owner got it backwards (or DH did). I've been picking raspberries for a while now (wild ones before the domestic). Blackberries are still green, just starting to turn red, will be quite a while before they're ripe (unless we keep having 90 degree heat). BTW, black raspberries (at least the wild ones) are rounded as well as hollow, blackberries are much more elongated though since my Encore RB are very pointed (Killarney less so, but more than the wild RB) maybe a cultivated blackcap would have that shape too. Reminds me I have to go out and check my blackcaps! They weren't ripe 2 weeks ago, probably gone by now (I got busy picking the red ones when I saw they were ripe, and they're within 1000ft of the house, blackcaps are 1500ft or more so I never tend to get out there).

How long they take to bear fruit depends on what type they are. Fall bearing raspberries (like Caroline & Anne) bear fruit on this year's canes so I will have some fruit this fall. I can't remember if they will bear a light crop next summer on the same canes as well - I'll have to look up when to prune them. Those canes will die and need to be pruned out. The patch will continue to grow as the plants send out suckers and fill in the area. Summer bearing plants (like my Canby and Triple Crowns) bear fruit on one year old canes. I got a couple of berries from my Canby this year and have a few trying to ripen on the Triple Crown as well - they are growing on the part of the plant that was above ground when I planted them this spring. Next year's berries will grow on the canes that grew this summer. If you have summer bearing plants, you'll likely need to bend down the canes (though Triple Crown may be too thick) and mulch them or if they don't bend, try to shelter them somewhat from the dry winter winds to protect next summer's crop. If those canes die, no fruit for you next summer! Also, Caroline and Anne aren't thornless although my Anne bushes don't seem to have very many thorns. I would like to try some black raspberries too but I think it's advised to plant them quite a ways from the reds. I can't remember exactly why, but it may be a disease issue. I'm waiting on getting those for a little while.