Shoveling out the Garden

Earlier this week Matt and I went out to measure the snow on the garden again. It was up to twelve inches in the deepest spot. Today turned out to be a warm sunny day so we decided to go out and help the beds along with the melting process. We took two shovels out and shoveled off the beds. The dead stems of the brussels sprouts and kale helped us get our bearings and we eventually found a few of the resistors that hold the electric fence around the edges of the beds. In shoveling off the northern bed, we found two late planted brussels sprouts. I think I put these in the ground around July, but they never got enough sun to take off. However they survived the winter by being short and insulated by the snow.
We also discovered one small kale plant amongst the larger plants which died because of the cold.
And one small leek. These aren't in my garden plan so they may have to get moved. I wasn't planning on any brussels sprouts or leeks, but if they survived the winter I don't have the heart to compost them.
We covered them back up with loose snow to protect them from the cold nights. We only shoveled off half off the southern bed, leaving the snow to protect the garlic.
It doesn't look like we did much from the pictures, but now the snow is all one level, which means the 10" high beds are significantly cleared of snow. Hopefully this will help the sheet of ice that seems to be left on the bed melt off in the next few weeks so we can get some early peas and radishes in the ground next month.