Snow and Your Garden
Most of us at Smith Mountain Lake are working hard at this point, to keep a positive outlook about forecasts of further snow or precipitation. Spring seems much too far off and we are counting the days.
But besides giving thanks for the fact that our Maker is still Sovereign, those of us who garden can appreciate the snow for the fact that it will improve the health of our soil and the resulting produce later this summer.
According to Ross Penhallegon, horticulturist with the Oregon State University Extension Service, snow is an excellent insulator and can protect both plants and soil from the detrimental effects of freezing and thawing over and over. The melting snow also feeds the soil, carrying nutrients and moisture to plants and trees that will lose moisture through their branches (both evergreens and bare trees), through the cold months.
Interestingly, as the snowflakes pile up, the soil temperature increases. How much? By about 2 degrees for every inch of accumulation, says the Purdue University extension service. Think of snow as winter mulch. It greatly helps to insulate the plants that you would like to survive the winter.
In fact when you are shoveling snow out of the path, you can pile the snow you move into areas around plants where the snow never fell. This will help to protect those plants from the cold and damaging winds which tend to dry them out.
The ground never freezes during winters when a deep snow falls near the beginning of winter and sticks around. Though much of a plant goes dormant in the late fall, roots continue to grow whenever temperatures are not too cold. Earthworms and soil microbes also stay busy as long as they are not below freezing temps.
So take heart, the snow and cold will come to an end in a few short weeks, and in the meantime, it is doing your garden a world of good.