Well Iain, you get a long blade and carve out blocks of snow to start. Make a circle... ha ha Considering that Vancouver doesn't ever get much snow. A lot of our snow here in mid Alberta, Canada is melting quickly as we hit the low teens Celsius. I'm sure it won't last though as we normally get another couple of snow storms up to and including our May long weekend, end of May. Nothing poking its way out of the ground yet and I would encourage it to go back down if it was. It's nice to see that the big box stores are already stocking the spring bulbs, one can almost smell spring in the air. Linda Red Deer, Alberta, Canada