Panel data provided by Madison's Canadian Lumber Reporter.

Snow...Nature's Blanket

By Jos Van Hage

Over the last few days the local landscape has turned into a winter wonderland with all the snow we have been receiving. Snow is Mother Nature’s blanket and is excellent in protecting plants and bulbs from the cold. It also provides moisture for the soil and in turn the plants/bulbs that grow in the soil when the snow melts, so it is beneficial. So when removing the snow from driveways and walkways pile it under evergreens where there may not be as much snow or under the eaves of the home or other buildings where there are bulbs or perennials planted. This will protect plants from the cold as well as provide extra moisture. When shoveling snow you want to be careful not to pile too much on flowering shrubs such as potentillas, spireas, and other small-branched shrubs as the heavy weight load will cause damage such as broken branches. Snow can also contain grit, gravel, and soluble salts found in ice melter or fertilizer which can cause damage to plants if in large amounts, so you do not want to have this snow near plants/trees or lawns. 

good thing to do in spring when temperatures warm up is to get out the garden hose and leach out the soil and remove excess amounts of sand and grit. The snow that we have been receiving is quite heavy and can break or bend tree branches. If you did not wrap cedar trees then it would be a good idea to go out and carefully remove any large amounts of snow that may be damaging branches before they break. Once the branch has broken, the tree will have lost its shape, which may be hard to fix.

Winter conditions also mean ice and caution should be used in removing unwanted ice from walkways or driveways. Quite often salt is used which works well but can cause damage to plants in the spring when temperatures rise. High salt content in the soil can kill or burn trees, plants, lawns, etc. A better way to melt ice around the lawn or plants is using a fertilizer high in nitrogen such as 46-0-0. Not only will this melt the ice but also give your lawn a green boost in the spring. Of course, caution must be used when using fertilizer because too much of this can also cause damage so if you have an excess amount of fertilizer in the soil you need to leach it out of the soil with water in the spring.

I always tell people to try to stay off their lawn as much as possible during the winter months because you can damage the grass roots by walking on them in cold temperatures. If you walk the same route on a lawn, the frost will be able to penetrate into the earth easier thus causing damage. In my own yard I have a dog that always follows the same route on the lawn and each spring the grass is either slower to green up or dead because of it.

-Jos 


Jos Van Hage owns three Art Knapp's Garden Centres in the Prince George area:
-Highway 97 South at the old Cariboo Highway
-Highway 97 North
-Highway 16 West

Previous Story - Next Story



Return to Home