Gardeners are a busy bunch during a snowstorm. You’d think that there wouldn’t be much to do when all that white stuff is flying around outside, but you’d be wrong. Here are the things on a garden geek’s Storm Central to-do list.
- Appreciate the blanket of protection that’s going to shelter the foxglove seedlings from the cold temperatures that will follow the storm. Since snow has many airspaces between the flakes, it makes a great insulating layer for biennials and perennials that have exposed foliage.
- Rejoice that this layer of fluffy, frozen water is hiding the chickweed, wintercress and dandelion greens that didn’t get pulled in the winter. Of course we’ll just have to turn a blind eye to the fact that these winter weeds seem able to grow underneath a snow cover. Oh well, they’ll be there next spring and if they’re bigger, they’ll be easier to see, right?
- A heavy snowfall smashes down those perennial plants we never got around to cutting down at the end of last summer, so we can spend a lot of time pretending that they aren’t still there. In fact, the snow smooths over a multitude of areas and makes us think we actually have a great deal of garden space that’s a blank slate. Perfect! On to task #4.
- Much of the gardeners snow-day needs to be filled with looking at seed and plant catalogs or on-line offerings. Plenty of time to put in orders, and with all of that empty space we see out the windows, we of course need to order plants to fill it.
- Break from the important tasks above to periodically shake snow off of the most vulnerable evergreens (Arborviate, pencil point Japanese Holly, small Japanese Maples…) so that they don’t split or crack, fill the bird feeders and change the water in the heated birdbath.
- If there’s any time left, shovel snowfall from the paths, steps and driveway.
Here is how my deck looked at the start of the storm at 3 PM on Jan 26th. I’ll post another photo of this view at the same time on the 27th, if I’m not too busy with my Storm Central To Do List….
The winds blew these chairs over at one point, and for awhile there was little snow on the deck because the wind pushed it all off. Now the winds are dying down, and the snow is still falling heavily, so the deck and furniture are starting to be covered. What you don’t see here are the 4 foot drifts on either side of this deck… What a storm!
