Seems like nobody in rec.gardens.edible either has the answers or wants
to take the trouble to answer, so I'm posting this again in this forum.

I buried several of my young trees in pots in my garden for the winter.
These are all plastic pots which have filled with the melted snow, to
the brim. With
the varying temperatures we are experiencing, some of this water has
refrozen. Will this ice layer atop the soil in any way harm the
plants? Should I make extra efforts to remove it?

Sherwin D.