Frost Heaves,Snow,and Mud Season...It's Spring in NH

This time of year,it's not just early spring in NH. It's also what natives call "Mud Season." We get nice days above freezing,or some days with rain,and all the areas that are not paved look like our driveway. Full of ruts and puddles. It makes for great fun in trying to keep floors clean.I think we are going to get our driveway and walkway sealed this year. I have had it with the mud!!!!!



                                Our poor driveway!

The other thing that this time of year is noted for is the presence of these signs all over the place:

Standard sign this time of year

Until I woman from California asked me  exactly what a frost heave was and why there were signs about them everywhere I thought everyone knew what they were. Being from California,why would she?

In simple terms,frost heaves are when the frozen ground under the roads swell up,making bumps,dips,potholes,and uneven roads. Many a muffler have been ripped off a car when they hit a nasty frost heave too fast. Bottoms of cars have been scraped from hitting a dip too fast.  In some areas there are big cracks down the center of the lane,with one side of the crack higher than the other,so the road is a bit lopsided. The local newspaper has a yearly poetry contest about the worst section of road in the area.Once the temps stop going below freezing,the frost heaves go away and the road for the most part becomes OK again. There are some areas that need to fixed by the City/Town Road Dept.

My blogging buddy Sue from Living The Good Life asked me if we still had snow,and I replied that we did. In fact, we might get hit a with snowstorm on Friday. We tend to still have snow here into April,and a late April/early May snowstorm is not unusual. That's why our growing season is so short. Rule of thumb is no planting outside until at least May 20,and Memorial Day (May 30)is generally the date that gardeners wait for.

I have posted some photos of what our yard looked like as of yesterday to give you an idea of how much snow is left:

Runt and his harem can't wait for the snow to go



My garden was in this spot last year. You can still see the stakes for the cuke trellis!


The pathways are slowly getting bigger,which is encouraging,but as you can see, we still have quite a bit of snow left. Today is going to be in the upper 40's,so we will lose some more snow ( causing more mud!),but if we get hit with that storm,we will get it all back. I am keeping my fingers crossed that we very little,if nothing,from the front that's headed towards us.