Taming the Briar Patch

After the gardener trimmed off some runaway vines, I decided to do a better job of cutting back the boysenberry this year.  I don't remember if I even did it last year, and it was getting to be a fire hazard.  Unlike other times I've worked on it, I pulled back everything to get all the dead vines and the new rhizomes that formed near the planter walls.  About a third of the way in, I stepped back to look at how things were going and decided to start a blog post.

It was about an hour of hard work for a twelve-foot planter.  I set free the little plastic borders that were vainly trying to hold everything in.  Found a solar-powered path light buried in there, as well as the original root.  That had died quite some time before and came out.  A couple of vines with good root systems went in cups of soil as gifts to neighbors.

I probably owe the gardener an apology for filling the greens bin the day before he came.  It did push down about halfway, since most of the vines were dead and brittle.

I guess I didn't get as cut up as it felt, but the skin on my arms was pretty upset for about an hour.  I pulled out a couple of thin spikes in the shower after.  Thornless, my butt.  I'll try to remember to wear two layers of long sleeves next year.  At least there wasn't a ton of spiders.  Then I would have gone back for the long sleeves.  And coveralls.

I'm happy with the amount that's left.  It's still kind of a lot, but all of it is healthy.  I gave it an apology watering, which soaked the fallen leaves so they will become mulch.  Now we just need cool weather so the bramble can winter over.