This weekend Mother Nature gifted us with snow.  Not just a dusting or a few flurries, a storm that started in the afternoon and continued on through the night blanketing everything in about eight inches of white.  Happily for me (though I hesitate to use that word where winter weather of any kind is concerned), this is a light, fluffy snow that I far prefer to the heavy, wet kind. 

It looks pretty out there, but I soon discovered that the rain on Saturday froze over a good part of my driveway leaving a layer of ice.  The snow that fell Sunday afternoon into the wee hours of Monday morning hid the ice but didn’t provide any traction.  Ask me how I know this. 

At least the snow softened my fall.

As much as I dislike winter and dealing with snow and ice and freezing temperatures, I do look forward to that blanket of snow tucking my garden in for the season.  Yes, the garden does look peaceful and pretty, but that’s not the reason.  You see, that layer of snow insulates the soil and in turn helps protect the roots of my perennials from extreme cold. 

Insulating the ground also helps moderate the effects of freezing and thawing of the soil during temperature fluctuations.  Frost heaves over the course of winter can push bulbs or plants’ roots out of the soil, exposing them to desiccating winds and killing temperatures.

A layer of snow also helps preserve soil moisture over the winter months, and as the snow melts and soil warms in the spring, it provides a welcome drink to thirsty plants preparing for a new season of growth.

Of course, when spring finally arrives, that doesn’t mean we’re out of danger of a snowstorm.  On the contrary, we often have noteworthy storms into April and sometimes May.  My father used to call spring snow “poor man’s fertilizer” because the grass seemed to green up so quickly when that snow melted.  He wasn’t wrong.  As snow drifts down through the atmosphere, it gathers nitrogen and other trace elements and as it melts deposits them in the soil, helping feed the plants there.

Even knowing all this when the next snowfall comes, I’m still likely to be grumbling as I shovel the white stuff from walkways and clear off my car, wishing for spring and counting down the days.

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