Plenty of snow but ground is not frozen

This year has been funny in that we have had some snow cover since November. Funny in that for the past few years the winter has been relatively dry. When we do not get much snow fall the ground tends to free faster than when there is cover.

And in spite of the fact that we have had snow, the temperatures have been above 0 degrees Fahrenheit. This combination of warm relatively warm temperatures and snow cover means the ground has not total frozen.

As a matter of fact Phyllis was able to pull the paver blocks up from in-front of the greenhouse door with no problem. We have 4 – 18″ square blocks in front of the door to the greenhouse so that a mud hole does not form in wet weather. Normally they would be frozen to the earth and we would need to pry them up with a crowbar. As a matter of fact in past winters the ground would heave by now, from being frozen, to the point where the pavers make it impossible to fully open the door.

One problem is the stone around the green houses is not frozen so when we run the snow-blower around the outside it tends to pick up some of the gravel. It really is no problem for the snow blower but if a lot is removed we will have to replenish it.

This year is not shaping up to be much of a zone 4 climate, more like zone 6 or 7 !
The warmer weather and cover may allow us to have a good wintering for the perennial garden plants. We put them up in gallon pots and winter them over in 2 beds which measure 5′ by 20′ each. The beds are made from 2″ by 12″ larch and we fill them up with next years perennial plants.

The beds are situated so they stay in the shade until late spring so the sun does not have a chance to melt the covering snow. These plants usually come through stronger and are ready for the garden in late spring until fall.

In the spring the sun get up to a point to where the beds are in full sun from the end of March until October which is perfect for wintering. We only hope the voles stay away.