20121008 Pruning the Blackberries

This past Summer was different than most. While we have a hot spell that would melt your face off, the back yard did not burn to the normal taupe ashy scorched earth. Strange indeed. However, while the grass merely survived, the blackberries thrived. There were flowers and buds and beginnings of berries at the usual time--just prior to our leaving for a week in July on vacation, expecting to return to empty bushes as is the norm. But that was when the 105 heat descended and lay about the land. The berries were still on the bush when we returned and over the next week or two, slowly shriveled and just died.

Then something strange happened. The weather returned to normal levels and a new set of canes sprung forth from the blackberry patch and actively worked at unseating me as I mowed. They were like demon fronds of thorny bad-assery, and I did fear them mightily, and respect their savage existence by taunting them harshly...from afar. And grow they did. As an example, here is an old photo from 2007, showing a mere portion of their prodigious being 5 years ago:

Today, I took up arms against a sea of thorns. I battled the wrath of the thorny beast and tamed its wildness. I discovered a couple of interloping nasties along the way, at first bearing close resemblance to blackberries but the leaves were different and the thorns were black instead of green, and they were climbing over and through EVERYTHING. They alone accounted for the majority of the mess, and another major creeper was pulled out which not only went vertically into the elm and walnut trees and blackberries, but had laid down intricate roots running 20' into my yard and through the rock wall just as far into my neighbor's garden adjacent to the patch! I think I left part of my sacroiliac on the ground when I yanked those out. But next year, oh next year, I probably won't be able to find enough buckets to contain all the blackberries.

Yeah, I'm not holding my breath either.