It’s summer in the orchard but still not too hot to spend all day out there. I spent the morning cleaning up prunings that are still scattered around and cutting out more fire blight. Vilberie is a one of those apt to get hammered, and this year it did. It’s a late-season English bittersweet that leafs-out late and blooms late. We have two trees. Both got hit. Still we keep it. I like late-ripening fruit, and Vilberie has great potential for our cider despite the challenges.

In the afternoon we mulched and covered the potatoes with row-cover fabric. We use the “Agribon” year after year, taping (decorating?) the inevitable holes with pieces of duct tape. The fabric does a good job of protecting the plants from the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) without resorting to spray or picking the beetles and larvae off the foliage which is laborious (and gross) but does work. We prefer the fabric. We also weeded and back-filled in a new asparagus trench. We plant the asparagus in foot-deep trenches, filling in the soil as the plants emerge. It’s an old method that has proven to be tried and true.

Meanwhile the Sox beat the Yankees for three in a row. Unexpectedly good news. (The Sox have had their challenges this year.) I did make it to a game with a good buddy a couple weeks ago on the spur of the moment. Fenway Park is a living orchard too. The grass is so green! (They do need a few apple trees.)