Oregon Public Broadcasting

It still feels like winter in most parts of the Northwest. But in farm country, crews have started pruning fruit trees and wine grape vines.

That’s a sure sign that spring is just around the corner. Correspondent Anna King trekked into some Eastern Washington orchards to bring us this story.

A crew of men saw and clip old tree limbs. They’re working on rows of cherry trees just outside of Benton City, Washington.

Scott Williams is the manager of this farm. He says it’s important for the trees to be trimmed up. Otherwise, they won’t bear good-quality fruit.

Scott Williams: “If you look like these trees that haven’t been pruned you can see that they look like a kid that needs a haircut. If you look at the trees that have been pruned, it still looks like the kid has a lot of hair, but he has a nice trim.”

After all the trimming is done, there will still be plenty of work to do to keep the cherries from freezing.

Orchard managers like Williams will have to burn smudge pots in the spring. The heaters help protect the trees’ delicate blooms and buds from frost.

Those first buds should break about the end of March. Cherries will be ripening about the start of June.