Snow Misfortunes

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Falls of leaves and autumn rains rustled. Not far off the first snowflakes, and behind them and real snowdrifts. For residents of private houses and "winter" summer residents, they represent a special problem that has to be dealt with on a regular basis. How can this be done effectively and safely for health?

Preparation is important

Removing snow, even with an ordinary shovel, requires the necessary preparation, which will save you from health problems and make this activity less tedious. Before entering the courtyard stands:

- stretch and warm up the muscles a little to avoid unwanted injuries, - choose optimally warm, but light clothes for greater comfort, - rub the end of the shovel with wax for better sliding and increasing the working speed.

We monitor safety

Before getting started, do not forget about safety precautions. Here are some helpful tips on how to minimize injury and sprains:

- be sure to take short breaks and give your muscles a rest, - try to bend your legs when grabbing snow and straighten them when throwing it, - periodically change your hands and their position on the handle of the shovel, without overloading them, - with a large layer of snow, do not try to capture it at once - visually divide it into several layers and clear them gradually, - during your work, there should be no other people in the radius of movement of the shovel,

- do not forget to lightly tamp the pile of removed snow so that it does not roll down the already clean path again, - if there is too much snow, then you need not be lazy to throw it away from the cleared area in order to avoid landslide mountains around.

Time for contemplation and plans

Does snow removal seem boring to you? Nothing like this! After all, this is a wonderful time to reflect, to be alone with your thoughts … If you are clearing snow from the territory of your site, then at the same time think about improving your garden.

Working with a shovel, you can accidentally stumble upon any shrub on your way and come to the conclusion that it is not planted in a very convenient place and it would be desirable to transplant it next year. Examining the snowy area, you can form an opinion about any shortcomings in the winter landscape. For example, you find that your garden looks too "bare" and dull in winter, and it would be good to plant some evergreens.

When throwing snow, think about fun for your children: plan a place for a playground, slides, trees, etc. Perhaps the piles of removed snow will turn into funny animals or whole buildings.

Snow mulch

If the snow fell on your site unevenly, or you need to insulate and nourish the soil in the greenhouse, then feel free to use the removed snow as mulch. It will protect plants and shrubs from severe frosts. However, remember some precautions:

- before covering a shrub with snow, carefully bend its branches, otherwise heavy snowballs can break branches that are fragile from frost, - do not use snow taken from a public road as snow mulch, as it can be treated with harmful chemicals.

However, for young seedlings and thin branches of garden trees, too large snow caps are quite destructive: under the weight of the snow, plants can not withstand and break. Therefore, you need to periodically and carefully shake off snow flakes from them.

By the way, a large amount of snow can be turned into a useful windbreak along a certain line of the garden, which will protect the plants from strong winds.

If you have a fairly large area, and snow falls every winter, then you should consider buying a home snow blower. But if there is never a lot of snow in your area, there is not enough space for storing such equipment (about the size of a lawn mower or more), and you don’t want to spend money on fuel, then it’s better to refuse to buy.