I snowed this week, enough to cover the ground in a few protected places, then turned to rain
I was really hoping for more snow, not to bring on the Christmas Spirit, but to fertilize my freshly tilled garden.
Snow? Fertilizer? Good for gardens?
Yep. Here’s why.
Snow cover helps to preserve and add to soil moisture in the winter. Snow is also known as a poor man’s fertilizer. As snow falls through the atmosphere, nitrogen attaches to the snowflakes, providing a gentle natural fertilizer boost to plants.
Snow is like a natural mulch and helps to moderate temperature changes underground. It’s a natural blanket of insulation for your garden soil. As with home insulation, the R value is determined by the depth of the snow. A new, un-compacted snow provides especially good insulation. A scanty snowfall of an inch or two doesn’t do much, but a freshly fallen deep, fluffy snow is ideal for plant protection. In some cases, the temperature of soil under snowpack can be double that of the ambient temperature. Snow cover discourages perennials and bulbs from growing when a warm day occurs in winter, only to have their new growth zapped by the next cold spell.
Spring is coming, but until then, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
