It’s easy this time of year to get a little sick of Snowcover and has many to wonder what good is having snow anyway? Actually snowcover has many benefits especially to landscaping and I’m going to discuss just how a nice thick blanket of snow can do wonders for the yard and garden!

 

Currently the snow depth map provided by NOAA shows we finally have a nice snowcover statewide ranging from a 9-12+ inches in the north to 3-5″ in the south and central areas. A pretty typical snowcover for this time of year. Only far southeastern Iowa has little to no at this time. Here in Cumming, Des Moines SW Metro we have around 4″ of snow on the ground with last nights snow. So could any good possibly come from having a snowcover like this?

The very low temperatures that we commonly see here is hard on plants. So what if they could wear a blanket to keep warm? Snowfall acts as a natural blanket and keeps plants and lawns protected against extreme cold and that drying winter wind. The biggest help the snowfall provides in the insulating qualities it has. Temperatures under a thick blanket of snow can easily be 10-20 degrees warmer than the outside air temp. For example if its -15.F outside temperatures under the snow could be around -5 to 5 above at the same time. This is really helpful when it covers those less hardy plants and spring blooming shrubs because it protects the tender already formed buds on these plants not to mention insulates everything else. Not only does it protect the plants, It also keeps the frost depth in soil from getting too deep which freezes underground pipes. Another plus is that prevents soil erosion and loss on plowed farm fields from relentless winter winds. As an added bonus when it melts it adds much-needed spring moisture to our soil.

Do you remember last week when the grass was green? Lawns usually turn brown because we get very cold temperatures before we’ve gotten any snowcover to protect it. We have cold coming in this week with single digit to lower teens for lows but since we have a snowcover that green grass will likely stay green and protected under the snowcover at least through this round of cold. Now there can be such thing as too much of a good thing. In the case of evergreen shrubs that can get damaged by very heavy snows. If you find that your evergreen trees are bending under the weight of heavy snow it is very important that if the temperature is below 30.F to leave it! You will do more harm than good if you try to remove the snow. Once it has warmed to at least 30 it is safe to use you hand or a soft broom to gently sweep the snow off. You will generally only need to do this with those very heavy snow loads we sometimes see. On the other hand sometimes old man winter can be a little stingy on the snow, in that case as long as you don’t use salts you can pile the snow from your walkways onto your plants. If no snow is present try wood or leaf mulch which can have the same benefits. Leaving the old plants from previous years growth will help catch snow that does fall! So next time you’re thinking you’re getting a little tired of that snow think about how it’s keeping the yards and plants under it protected!