Late-Winter Garden Musings: Sprouts, Fruit Tree Pruning, and Cover Crops

Lately, here on Vashon Island, it's felt a lot more like spring than winter! The frigid cold and incessant rain of January subsided in February, bringing a few blue-bird skies and hours of sunshine. The 30-year low temperatures in January (a whopping 16 degrees F at my house!) have stabilized in the mid to lower 50s, and I couldn't be happier.

A few days ago, I had a moment to spend in my garden and got to work happily weeding and raking out leaves. I'm not opposed to leaves in the garden throughout the winter, but I do like to tidy beds up in the spring by removing the leaves and raking the top layer of compost. Immediately, I could see crocus and snowdrops poking through. The continued warm temperatures have allowed daffodils and tulip leaves to make an appearance, while winter hellebores continue to take the spotlight with muted pink and white flowers and their deep green leaves. Unfortunately, the deer have been active in my yard and helped themselves to a salad of day lily sprouts and even a few hellebore flowers! (I thought hellebores were supposed to be deer-resistant! But I guess nothing is safe here on Vashon).

In addition to a little bit of spring weeding and garden clean-up, I've been busy with fruit tree pruning. January was pretty abysmal for pruning--lots of rescheduling due to inclement weather--but February has been busy and eventful. Most trees are looking healthy right now, and thankfully I haven't seen any early bloomers--which means I have a bit more time to finish pruning all the trees on my list.

This is my third winter here on Vashon and I've noticed a few things about this time of year that I really enjoy. First of all, I CAN FEEL, like literally feel in my bones and in my body that the daylight is lasting longer and thus spring is on the precipus. Sunlight after 5 PM? Thank you! Second, camellias and daffodils are blooming! There's nothing quite like the first spring flowers blooming to brighten up my day. Plus, daffodils are such a happy yellow; how could you look at one and not smile? And third, right now is still pretty calm business-wise, so I've been able to enjoy more time working on my business and in my personal garden. Fruit tree pruning season is busy (there's a lot of trees to prune!)--but pruning is relaxing to me and I find I get into a deep flow state when I'm on a ladder pruning away. Soon the spring rush will be here and I'll be jumping between a dozen or so gardens a week, weeding, pruning, and top-dressing. I'm grateful for a little calm before the spring rush!

With a couple more weeks of winter, and spring soon on the way, I'm excited for another gardening season. I'm currently able to take on a few more recurring garden maintenance and/or lawn care clients. I'm also hoping to be able to add green waste removal to the menu of services provided in early spring. Happy Gardening!