The summer harvest is approaching its peak, but not at bankrupt Copia, where the organic gardens, inspired by those at a French castle, await better times.

Fruit trees are still producing bountiful quantities of plums and nectarines, but most are falling unplucked, with birds doing most of the feasting.

Tempted by so much ripe produce, some residents have ignored “no trespassing” signs and made forays into the gardens, grabbing what they can.

They have run afoul of ACA Financial Guaranty Corp., Copia’s interim manager. Fearing legal liability if mishaps occurred, ACA is stepping up enforcement to keep trespassers away.

The fruit trees and vines have survived Copia’s financial collapse, but most of Copia’s three and one-half acres of edible gardens sit fallow. After Copia’s shutdown, there was no one to plant vegetables this spring.

ACA, Copia’s bond insurer, has focused on “keeping the structural plantings and grass watered” while Copia moved through bankruptcy, Joe Fischer, Copia’s president, said in an e-mail this week.

“However, any gardener will walk by and see there is much to do — weeding, pruning, picking up some of the fruit that fell to the ground,” Fischer said.

It’s understandable that locals wouldn’t want to see ripe fruit go to waste, but gleaners cannot be accommodated until Copia’s future sorts out, Fischer said.

“While this may sound cold or uncaring, there were some liability and supervision issues that could not be overcome in the middle of the bankruptcy situation,” he said.

A Copia liquidation plan could be approved in federal bankruptcy court as soon as next Friday.

During the confusion following Copia’s filing for bankruptcy, gleaners harvested a portion of last winter’s garden for the Napa Valley Food Bank. The food bank received lettuce, broccoli, herbs and cabbages, said Shirley King, Napa Food Bank’s manager.

“We had advocates for the food bank going out and harvesting it,” King said. “People were concerned it was going to waste.”

This unauthorized harvesting didn’t last long, King said. “We were told it was private property and it was considered trespassing,” she said.

King said she understood Copia’s concerns. In this day and age “it’s all about litigation,” she said.

While no crops were planted this spring, ACA made sure that the permanent plantings — trees, shrubs, vines and lawns — have been watered.

“I think that everything that was important is still there,” Ainslie Bruneau, Copia’s former vice president of campus operations, said Thursday. “The bones of it” have been preserved.

Over the past week, coinciding with the opening of the new First Street bridge, ACA paid for a crew of workers to clean up the gardens, removing dead vegetation and cutting back grapevines so they didn’t droop onto the sidewalk.

The gardens, which were inspired by the 16th century kitchen gardens at Villandry in France’s Loire Valley, no longer look like a dying jungle.

Cassandra Walker, the city’s economic development manager, predicted better days ahead for Copia and its gardens if the bankruptcy court empowers ACA to seek a buyer for the property.

The city has suggested to ACA that it might want to use local Master Gardeners to revive the gardens, Walker said.

The food bank has volunteer gleaners who will sign liability waivers if they are allowed to harvest crops, King said.

“ACA has consistently demonstrated a sensitivity to the desires of the city and community in understanding the future of the site,” Fischer said.

“With the uncertainty of the bankruptcy process almost behind us, I have no doubt that the Copia grounds will soon get more of the attention that they deserve.”