Three Inches of Snow Last Night Have Canceled

Bob Bauer

January 17, 2020 (Last Updated: March 06, 2023) | Reading Time: 1 minutes

Photography Of Fir Trees Covered in SNow

January 17, 2020

Three inches of snow last night have canceled my gardening plans for today. Oh wait, I can still sit in the greenhouse with the door propped open, which is the only plan I had in mind anyway. The birds have been voraciously eating down the chard plants, and making them small enough that my wire hoops can cover them. They are helping me preserve the plants for new leaves to emerge, and though it's not a good idea to work in the garden when the soil is soaked, it makes pulling up the creeping Jenny much easier..

Like Bermuda grass, it has runners that break off at shear points. It's one of nature's ways of preserving the species even if it's under heavy predation. The birds have been eating it to the ground also, but it will come back with a vengeance..

January 18, 2020

The lingering snow has caused the local bird population to get hungry. They are now flocking to the garden to land on the tops of the chard plants that are sticking up above the snow. My garden dog Annie thinks they have come to play, and spent the whole day running back and forth trying to catch them..

She's so lithe and agile that her excitement is a frolic in the snow, and I live vicariously through her, and remember the joys of running. Just when the garden started getting boring it's turned into a dog park playground, and I couldn't be happier..

January 19, 2020

Two days of snow covering the garden leads us to Gardening in the Snow 101. Get your trimmers out, strap on your knee pads, and snuggle into your warm gloves. The heavy wet snow has weighted down the grape and blackberry vines surrounding the garden so I can cut them off without having to reach up too far. It's like trimming your daughters bangs..

A walkabout will find you lots of trimming to be done because you won't be distracted by the ground needing mulch or wedding. You can burn the branches for a little winter fun, but you probably won't want to get too far away from the fire. Tree trimming is an annual January event because the sap has retreated go the roots and won't be lost to cuts in the branches as much..

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