First day of spring garden tour

On this first day of spring I thought to go out in the yard to see if I could find any signs of spring.  After the endless winter we have had, I thought to cheer myself up by finding a snowdrop, which is an early blooming flower.  Well....   This is what I found.

Lots of snow... about 18 to 24 inches yet on the ground

However a bit of joy is found near the cement wall.  I see the ground!

Raspberry terraced beds to the west of the deck

East terraced beds

Traversing snow that is higher than the boots I am wearing, I go to check out my pond.  I did not keep the water open this year due to several factors, a huge one in that the constant sub-zero temperatures would have made it near impossible.  I fear that all of my fish are dead and the frogs too.  My clean up job when it does thaw is going to be... messy.

Site of a very frozen pond - top of East terraced beds

The snow load on the roof this winter was very heavy.  In fact our neighbor's porch post snapped under the weight which prompted Timothy to clear our roof off.  Approximately three feet of very packed snow was heaved off.  A tremendously huge job to do and while doing it, little thought was given to what might be below.  Our Japanese maple which was covered in snow already, was crushed by the additional avalanche.  Perhaps with some pruning we can save it....

Casualty of war

We have made a "When do you think ALL the snow will be gone in our yard?" pool of which Timothy said this monster of a snowbank is included.  I am being extremely optimistic and saying by Mother's day, May 11th.  Timothy is probably much more realistic and guessing June 1st.  I am not allowed to "help" the snow disappear by knocking it down either.  We'll see....

Snow mountain

Well, I found a lot of snow, lots of dead plants and some hens and chicks in the small area on the south facing East terraced bed.  It is a plant that, yes I know is green all winter but I am going to have to be happy with the fact that now I can see it.

What I settled for...