Snowshoes save the garden

A garden bed or lawn that's wet and cold in spring can be churned to slime in just two or three walk-through's. Without concerted effort to loosen and amend such a mess afterward, that soil can remain in that sorry state for years.

A small-to-average sized gardener on one foot, reaching, puts 75 pounds per square inches of pressure on fragile soil.

That gardener standing in the center of a wide plank might halve the pressure she puts on the soil. On snowshoes we press down with less than 4 pounds per square inch.

Since plank walking restricts our movement, the boards require constant shifting, and snowshoes make us lightest on our toes, our choice was a no-brainer  -- we bought and use snowshoes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below: Janet had only one pair of snowshoes one day when Sue came out to help. Sue stood on a 3' x 3' plywood, trying to stay in its center. See the impression the plywood made? (Yellow arrow.) It caused less damage than footprints but it's still pressed. Meanwhile, Janet snowshoed all over the area circled in blue, leaving no mark.

No, this is not a new procedure for us. Although we don't have to resort to snowshoes every spring, we have done so off and on since 2006.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To sum it up

Garden science is right: Don't walk on wet soil! Yet time flies in spring. We'll wear snowshoes today as we cut down butterfly bush & rake.