This Quick Freeze

KTVB PHOTO

As you can see by the photo, our plants got caught with leaves on the trees and shrubs, and for many of us, completely unprepared for a quick freeze.

So what does this mean for our gardens and yards?

Shrubs that are deciduous will often break due to snow load on leaves that would have normally fallen off. Gently remove that snow, but be very careful due to the fact the limbs can break when they are frozen. If the snow is dry and fluffy, use a leaf blower to remove the snow so the limbs are not shaken.

If the snow is wet and sticking, and the blower method won't work, I prefer to prop up limbs and branches that are under too much strain with five inch cedar fencing boards you can purchase at Home Depot or Lowes. These boards are wide enough to distribute the branch weight and will stand up well by themselves from the downward pressure. With the branch now protected, you can use a broom to knock the snow off the top.
Many of us still need to prune our shrubs. Frozen branches are brittle from the outer layer of cell tissue crystalizing. If the shrubs are directly in the sunshine, test the pliability by bending an inside branch that can be sacrificed. If it can bend thirty degrees without snapping, you probably are safe to prune them.

When shrub pruning, keep in mind that a motor driven hedge trimmer creates severe vibration. If the shrub is borderline frozen, it would be better to use hand pruners. Proper pruning methods can be seen on this video.

Gardens that had carrots and other vegetables still in the ground can actually be pulled right now...yes, give it a try. The snow actually blanketed the ground fast enough, before the freeze, that the ground is not frozen. You will still see sprinkler systems being blown out as well. So before the snow is removed, and it freezes again, get those out of the ground.

The one thing you can count on in Idaho is the weather is going to change. We will probably warm up considerably and all this snow will be gone soon. So don't panic and be ready for a heat wave.