Wineberry CleanUp

What a beautiful blue-sky day! It was the kind of day that inspires one to look for outside chores. I was inspired to clean up the berries.

I chose to tackle the wineberry patch.  It's more contained than the black raspberry patch, but what a jungle! I cut out the old canes, then tucked all the young ones into the confines of the raised bed. I guess it's sort of silly to grow wild and rambling berries in a raised bed, but with a little well-timed maintenance it does seem to work.

It took quite a lot of wrestling to get all the flexible canes woven toward the center of the patch. Many of the plants had already set roots outside the bed. I carefully extracted those and tenderly transplanted them into a more desirable location.

The job was a bit overwhelming ... sort of like taming a monster. Those briars can be vicious! Even with leather gloves and protective clothing I suffered prickles and scratches. But I stuck with it. The end result? A neat and tidy bed. Bring on the fruit!