Over here using frost to break up the soil is standard practice, even though we get fewer freezes than many places in the US. The traditional method is to dig the ground roughly in the autumn/winter during dry spells and leave it in large clods. You then hope that there will be a few frosts. The idea is that come spring it then just needs raking down to a tilth for sowing and planting. It might prove a more problematical method in places where the ground really freezes and the garden is pretty much out of bounds through the winter.

Sounds like a plan for anyone in zone 2-7.
flora uk, have every been on KGI.

Thanks for the comment Flora. Seems like the ground needs to be water saturated before the hard frost occurs so that the frost can expand the moisture in the soil and burst the clods.

"Seems like the ground needs to be water saturated before the hard frost occurs..." ha, ha - that's no problem here!

Frost does wonders for compaction issues up here. And by golly we get some impressive frost!! It's a balmy -25C this morning, in March for crying out loud!

Lloyd

I did some of this without really planning on it. In November I dug up a big circular bed for a 3 sisters (corn, beans, & squash) garden to be planted this spring. I haven't gotten a chance to go over it again, but a lot of the big clods have broken up. Don't know how much is from the frost and how much from the rain!