When I cleared my allotment there were raspberries amongst the wilderness, however dear husband, chopped them down with the strimmer, - is there anyway of identifying them from brambles before I start digging out the brambles? I have photos from before I took the plot over but what I think are raspberries are in a different place to where I thought they were, I don't really want to wait much longer as I need to get the plot dug over asap and help would be appreciated - do the root systems look different - don't giggle at the back I am a total novice

No problem - they'll grow again happily. In fact being cut back was probably a good idea because at least you are halfway to finding whether they're autumn or summer.

The roots are quite different - the brambles go down much much further and the stems tend to be geometric, ie have angles, while rasps have a much more circular cross-section. You might be able to see that where the stubs are?

I helped to dig over a plot with rampant brambles and rasps, and found that after a while it was clear which were which.

moonbells

I like wild blackberries (brambles) and they taste far better than the ones I bought So I'm glad I kept some and replanted them at the edge of me plot. The rasps are buggers and throw up runners for miles if neglected which is what you've got. I dug some up and replanted them where I wanted them but the others are really hard to shift. You can use weed killer (glyphos) on em to weaken em but I found the easiest way was covering em with black sheet mulch and forgetting about them. they rot eventually and you can just lift em out. If you want to dig though you're going to have to do some hard work cos they go down ever so deep. Good luck