Today in the orchard
Bracken fern growing on a “path”, July 17, 2025
Today the focus was on clearing around the apple trees in the “BRC” orchard. The blackberries, comfrey, nettles, bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum) and other companions annually threaten to strangle the apples about mid-July. So they get trimmed back enough to access the impending fruit. The Trailman and the Cole’s Quince are about a month away from harvest. Edges of the paths that suffer from a path-version of atherosclerosis need to be hacked back. In some places you have to turn sideways to avoid the arching blackberry canes. In the process impressive piles of plant matter are generated; they become mulch for the apple trees. In and out, expansion and contraction, round and round. Will the circle be unbroken?
