Snow is a Good Insulator in the Garden

Bob Bauer

January 05, 2017 (Last Updated: March 06, 2023) | Reading Time: 1 minutes

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January 02, 2017

All that horizontal snow blow yesterday changed directions last night and fell straight down onto the garden. All my "pretty pictures" are gone as if someone wiped the whiteboard clean. It reminds me of a moonscape and it's still coming down. I'm glad I have seed starter mix left over from last year so l can plant my six packs indoors today otherwise I would be cooking some garden soil..

If you spread it on a cookie sheet, and heat it to160ÃÂ° , you can use it to plant seeds in without worrying about damping off disease. I've never tried it because I don't cook. but I think adding some vermiculite would help keep the soil from compacting too much..

January 06, 2017

I was SO annoyed that there was 12" of snow in the garden because I knew it would take a week to melt. Then last nights temperature dropped to 8ÃÂ° and I realized that without all the insulating properties of the snow I would have lost my garlic and onion starts. It's a good thing it was there. It probably protected lots of insects trying to overwinter too..

I read that gardening in Florida is frought with insect problems because it never gets cold enough to kill them. The cold makes the Brussels sprouts sweeter, and kills all the aphids on them, which is the only insect that causes me any problems, so I should probably be thankful for a little bit of winter, but I'll always look forward to the last frost..

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