A cacophony of red winged blackbirds stimulates our greenhouse work days, the excited songs lilting somewhat hectically out of beat with our steady weeding rhythm. Such harbingers of spring have a way of flinging open the soul’s hopeful chambers, inviting any and all ideas to considerate roosting. Clarence and Tona routinely anticipate warmer weather and earlier planting dates by facilitating faster snowmelt from the outside garden area.
To do so, get a wheelbarrow of compost in position next to the area you would like to thaw. Get a good scoop-full on a flat shovel and fling it over the snow patch. The goal is to get a very thin layer of the compost on top of the soil, thus obstructing reflective surface. I went about it incorrectly with my first shovels, practically dumping compost on top of the snow, thinking it was the heat of the substance doing the work. Rather, all you need to do is change up the reflection, so that the sun’s rays are absorbed with the dark dirt. Coated in this manner, the snow is melting twice as fast as the surrounding mounds . . . I can almost see bare ground!
This method is particularly helpful in a small garden experiencing soft ground syndrome; plowing or snow-blowing the garden right now would leave some terrific gauges in the earth.
Of course NOAA tells me six inches of fresh white fluff is on its way tonight . . . such is March (and April and May) around here.
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