Actually raspberries like acid soil. The cheapest mulch you can get is wood chips. In MI, 30 cubic yards of wood chips cost nothing (delivery also does not cost), if you call a tree company that would need to pay for landfill space otherwise. that would probably take care of 500 plants. Do not be shy and give them 8 inches or more initially. Wood chips will make the soil even more acid than leaves (which actually make a mildly acidic compost) initially, but the raspberries will not mind. They will appreciate the water savings, and long term (say, in two years), the mulch will provide all the nutrients they need. Right now, with new plants and a barren soil that needs time to absorb all that organic matter, you are better off fertilizing and watering a bit. You will appreciate a mulch that lasts two or more years, and that does not smother new canes (like matted maple leaves sometimes do). I have had raspberries in acidic sandy soil since 1997. They only got whatever yard waste I did not want to use on other plants, so mostly wood chips, but also peeling bark from firewood, whatever I swept from the patio or driveway, etc, probably 2 feet of the stuff over the years. They are incredibly strong plants.

we use mushroom compost (fresh from the farm) to start our gardens with and to top up when needed, but we also feed the medium by adding all rottable scraps under the mulches we use. the mulches are green type spoilt hay mulches so there is nutrient being added all the time. no matter what migh be in mushroom compost it is all we can access as those mixed soils from the suppliers could contain all sorts of undesirables as well, but in the end you have to use what is economically available. we don't till/dig gardens the worms do that free of charge and effort. len Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page

Every spring I rake away heavy layers of wet, matted leaves that look awful. Not only do they look bad but they suffocate everything underneath them. I have mostly maple, oak and ash...am I doing something wrong? Yes, you are removing the best natural mulch. ;) It is one that is also far more effective than wood chips at keeping down weeds and it replaces itself every year instead of you having to do all the work of replacing the wood chips every year. But if you don't like its looks just put your wood chips on top of it. To plant annuals just move the leaves aside, plant and put the leaves back in place. Any perennials will come up right through the leaves. Leaf mulch doesn't suffocate anything underneath it - instead it feeds whatever is there, stabilizes the soil moisture levels, and blocks the light that the needs need to sprout. Dave

Thanks for responding, everyone. Ruth, how lucky you are to have a gardener next door. Neither of my neighbors was one until a young lady moved in to the house with a sunken yard this spring. She created a beautiful vegetable garden immediately after moving in. She did not know that that garden will be submerged in heavy rain. I will help her mulch and share with her my loads of manure.....something that the neighbor who moved out did not want. luckygal, I believe you are right; the end of our yard was submerged when we first moved in 28 years ago. That part next door becomes a regular lake after a heavy rain especially when the ground has not thawed in srping and the puddle gets larger every year. :-P toxcrusadr, THAT is a very creative answer. :-D Thank you for giving me a good laugh.