This past Saturday, December 10, 2016, I had a new experience. I walked to a nearby Starbucks with a snow shovel! I thought it was comical. I left the shovel and safety fleece outside so as not to alarm the regular patrons. Once I got my grande dark roast, I contemplated the snow outside and my hate for it. Not for the white stuff itself but for its interference in my business. I would much rather prune trees and edge beds than shovel snow.
Once I got to the site I realized my teammate was so new to winter landscaping he had never shovelled snow before. So what follows are a few tips for landscapers new to snow shovelling.
- Feel free to use a blower on fluffy new snow. It could save you from back pain. We took 45 minutes to blow our site. It wasn’t perfect but it saved us from shovelling tons of snow. Then we shovelled.
- Get extra shovels because they break. Mine did. Luckily the complex had its own shovels.
- If you run into compacted icy sections, don’t stress. Put down copious amounts of ice melter and wait for a bit. As the salts react, stay busy elsewhere. If you can, get something natural. Nasty salts will accumulate in your landscape and wash down the drains to fish-sensitive areas. Also, wear gloves because the salts do nasty things to your skin.
- Drink lots of water. This is heavy physical labour. If residents come out to thank you that’s because they know it’s a nasty job. But hey, you’re a paid professional. You should experience the landscape in all seasons. Be glad you have work.
- If it’s snowing heavily, make one pass through first, put down ice melter and then, later, worry about widening the walks.
- Think high-profile first. There is no point in clearing someone’s parking stall when residents are getting injured on their way to shopping and bus stops.
- Make note of any tree and shrub damage. Obvious obstructions should be cleared away as soon as possible.
- Gently brush off heavy snow accumulations off shrubs and tree branches. GENTLY. Cold branches are brittle and can easily break off.
- Use a sharp ice pick for icy sections that must be cleared quickly. Just watch so you don’t crush the pavement below or mark it up severely.
- Don’t rush home. Consider other work you could do. Like river rock install we did at a corner patio to cover landscape plastic. The owner was happy and the landscape supply store was deserted when I picked up the material.
Snow events are annoying for West Coast landscape professionals but, since you can’t control the weather, you might as well have some fun. You can squeeze some precious work hours out of snow shovelling. And if you can’t, blog about it.
