a new year in the garden

it's new year's day in the garden and i wandered out to have a look around to see if everything was up to snuff...it seems to be...the alfalfa and winter rye in the top photo aren't under a blanket of snow ( yet ) so they continue to photosynthesize and, presumably, the alfalfa is still setting nitrogen...a bed or two away the clover had combined with the odd stray leaf to create a living mulch for the bed that includes some year old asparagus plants...curious to see how the come through the winter with this particular mulch...if ti works well it may set something of a pattern for the future since asparagus is deeply rooted and living in a bed of nitrogen setting clover shouldn't interfere with either plant's viability...the s eed pods in the third photo haven't shattered yet...don't know what they're waiting for...ellen's bachelor buttons won't give up that last vestige of garden color...and the arbovitae will remain decorated through orthodox christmas ( january seventh ) and the decorations will be coming down around the tenth...more work on the garden going on...but that's the next post.