If you have an ever-bearing variety that produces berries in both July and the fall, you have two options for pruning them. Some gardeners prefer cutting all the canes to an inch or so above ground level in spring,  but this means you are eliminating the July crop, encouraging them to only be fall-bearing.

Here is how to prune ever-bearing varieties for an extended, more bountiful harvest: canes that produced berries last July will be dead - grayish, peeling, and probably thicker than canes than produced in the fall. They should be removed at slightly above ground level along with non-productive, pencil-thin canes in spring. New canes that grew throughout 2010 and produced during the fall, should be cut back this spring, ususally in March before the buds start to swell, to roughly 30 inches. They will send out side shoots, producing your July crop this year. These will be the dead canes you remove close to ground level in spring of 2012.

Primocanes, the new shoots that come up this year will produce your fall crop and they will be the ones you reduce to 30 inches next spring.

Summer-bearing varieties produce their berries on canes that are in their second year of existence. Remove and dispose of these spent canes near ground level after they bear fruit. In the spring, remove the dead, weak and small canes along with winter-killed tips of any remaining canes.

Once the raspberry patch has been cleaned out, put down a layer of compost, scratch in fertilizer if needed, and make sure the drip system is working before you mulch the bed at the temperatures warm up

Encourage bees in your garden to facilitate with pollination for an abundant harvest.