The Black Raspberries are Cleaned Up

Last weekend I cleaned up the wineberries.  This Sunday, it was the black raspberries' turn.  I cut out the old canes, clipped back little trees that were trying to move in, pulled up honeysuckle / other weeds, and cleared a little path across the patch for easier access to ALL the berries.

Then I cleaned up two beds worth of last year's pole beans.  The brown, dried up plants were still hanging on to their respective string trellises.  I'll be moving my potato crop into those beds this year.

The garden art got an overhaul, too.  I sprayed new bamboo chimes with varnish and hung them in place.  I love the soft sound of bamboo chimes. These feature a brightly painted bird whose neck and head move with the wind.  They replace similar chimes that Rouse and I bought at the botanical gardens in Sarasota, FL the year my brother, Bill, and Amber got married.  They finally fell apart this winter. The chimes, that is, not the married couple!

I shored up my "angel tree". Andrew made the structure several years ago.  Four cedar posts tied together with grapevine form a tepee shape. The grapevine makes a little "nest" that holds a silver gazing ball. The grapevine must be replaced every year, which I did today. The garden guardian angel, a gift from my mother-in-law, perches on top. Some metal chimes and a chicken angel ornament round out the goofiness!