Our garden year begins in February

We finally saw a nice break in the rain, so it was time to head over to give the gardens a bit of TLC.  We did some pruning, some weeding and some general catching up with each other after our Winter hiatus.  

Late winter chores include pruning fruit trees, pruning roses back for the coming season and general garden clean up.  It will be a couple of months before we can do more in the gardens.  Until then we will have to be content with daydreaming about what the next year may bring. 

There is no blue as beautiful as the skies in late winter, here in Western Oregon. 

A panoramic view of the gardens from the back of the property.  Not much to see really, just lots of bare rose stems.  But I liked the long shadows in this photo. 

The Kitchen Garden beds don't look like much right now, but the cover crops are doing their job.  They have spent the last few months nourishing the soil in preparation of planting time in the spring. 

Another view of the play of light in the gardens.  The rose arbor is a tangle of stems that need pruning.  And don't you just love the golden-green carpet of moss on the sidewalk! 

Late winter is the perfect time to prune the apple trees in the garden.  We removed the water sprouts, saving many to use for supports when the cucumbers and tomatoes get going later this year.  

Now it's back to other winter garden work: browsing seed catalogs and making plans for the best season yet!