We only have a dusting of snow, so no help for protecting the plants. The garlic would benefit from a good snow cover, both for protection and moisture.
Unfortunately, the deer do get into lots of things, eat holes in tomatoes and squash, eat the tops of nice cabbages, wipe out a whole row of lettuce, and can denude the grapevines and eat all the grapes in one night if I don't put heavy netting over the grape vines. They munch leaves and tender branches on fruit trees and shrubs, and generally make a nusance of themselves. They have thousands of acres to roam, as our area is sparsely populated and bordered by wilderness, so they don't need my stuff. We do enjoy seeing them in the pasture. This summer one ran in front of my car, hit me in the headlight, hood and fender and went flying. Cost $3500 to fix it. Deer paid with her life.
Today on our way to town we met a herd of cattle that was being moved by riders on horseback and a couple of dogs. They were at least 6 miles from where they started and still had a couple of miles to go. At the speed of cow, 2mph after the initial half mile or so of woopee here we go, it's enough to freeze you half to death by the time you can get off the horse, if you can get off! Temperature was about 15 with a brisk wind. Definitely a cold job! Cow pies don't take long to freeze on the road when it's that cold, and are just like rocks when you hit one with your tire. They had frozen by the time we came home.
