nasty thorns

In the spring I pruned the blackberry bush which had come back to life on our second year here.  It had recovered from being cut down to a stump (and sprayed with RoundUp) by the property manager before we moved in.  I wish that she would have pulled out the stumps from the fruit trees she had chopped down (or better yet, left the trees).  It makes for tricky mowing.  Most of the trees have come back to life, spitting out shoots everywhere.  We wonder if it is the rootstock itself that is growing back.  After three years we still haven't gotten fruit from the apples.

Finally I got around to picking up those hazardous thorns which had been left laying where they fell.  "Chop and drop" is a method for dealing with weeds in which they can be left to break down and contribute to the life of the micro-organisms in the soil.  It's all biomass!  Chop and drop mimics a forest where plants are constantly in all stages of life.  It doesn't always look pretty.

Some plants don't break down as easily and that's where the chipper comes in.  Kitson managed to get the thorns through our electric chipper without ripping an arm off (I had refused to try).  Thorns aside, chipping is very satisfying.  I prefer the chopping and styling elements of gardening to planting, maybe for the same reasons I enjoy working as a hairdresser.

I was about to show you the after picture but it looks like the camera has gone fishing!