Just when I’ve decided I’m done with snow and ready for spring – it snows again! Maybe that’s the trick! I should wish really hard for spring in January and then maybe it would snow during WINTER and not after the first day of SPRING!

Daffodils peek out in front of our little Japanese maple. Remnants of an oak lost in the June derecho lie in the background.
I must say though, it is really beautiful outside right now. As I sit by the fire in our cozy sunroom, big snowflakes are lazily floating down and about 5½” of snow is covering the ground. I just hope it doesn’t turn to rain – that would be a real mess – but it’s a real possibility since the temperature has crept up to almost 35oF. Ugh!
It was snowing steadily when I took a walk outside with my camera this morning. All was quiet with the exception of the chattering of the birds in the trees and on our feeders. I guess they were wondering where spring had gone and what was up with all the snow!
Down by the vegetable garden, a few of the juniper trees were alive with the fluttering and twittering of a large number of birds. I assumed that they were cedar waxwings feeding on the bountiful crop of juniper berries but it turns out it was a big flock of robins!
I guess they were searching for spring, as well!
The one good thing about spring snow, though, is that it usually doesn’t stick around very long and it can be a real benefit to the garden. “Poor man’s fertilizer” it is sometimes called. I wrote a blog about this back in March 2011 when we got snow about this same time.
Spring snow generally falls on unfrozen ground so it usually seeps slowly into the soil as it melts over time rather than running off quickly as water from a heavy rain can. Snow also adds some nutrients to the soil from compounds it picked up in the atmosphere as it was falling to the earth. Good stuff! For more on this read my “Poor Man’s Fertilizer” post.
This past Saturday, Andre had a caller on the radio wondering whether he should go out and spread fertilizer on his lawn, given that it was supposed to snow the next day. Andre said by all means, he should put it down before the snow and mentioned that many people, farmers included, often spread fertilizer right on top of the snow. When I was in Vermont a few months ago, I saw where several farmers had spread manure on top of the snow that covered their fields – a good idea as long as you don’t get stuck! As the snow melts, it slowly transports the nutrients right down to the root zone.
More good stuff!
So, since you can’t do anything about it, look beyond the inconvenience and just enjoy the beauty of this snowfall. Try to think of it as a gift of free food and water for your lawn, perennials, trees, and shrubs. They are probably very thankful for it even if you aren’t!
This snow won’t last long and the warmth and greening of spring will continue where it left off just a few short days ago.
In fact, as I look out our big sunroom windows towards the Allegheny Mountains to the west, the clouds have lifted and the mountains are clear. The snow has stopped – the melting has already begun …
Until next time – Happy Gardening!