This year was bad for freeze/thaw cycles here. Usually the surface freezes in mid Dec and stays frozen until early March. And I mulch just before Christmas, then I'm done with it until March when I start pulling back the mulch. This year, an early Jan. inspection showed the ground had rethawed from the bottom up and I saw signs of a couple vole 'runways' so I pulled the mulch back hoping for a permanant freeze up but it never really did. It was just constant cycling--above and below freezing.
The picture is the most extreme I saw yesterday--only a couple like that. But I did see more crocos forced up, too.
P.S. added: Saw a flock of 10 or 11 Robins this morning. They were feasting on 'night crawlers' earthworms on the driveway brought up by last nights rain. I guess the 'early bird gets the worm'.
