Poor Man’s Fertilizer
When the Gardening Grannies were growing up in various parts of the mid-Atlantic, “Snow is the poor man’s fertilizer” was an expression often uttered (or, perhaps, muttered) by their parents and grandparents. Now, why would those old timers refer to snow as “fertilizer”? And, more specifically, why “poor man’s fertilizer”?
The answer is simple. Snow, like rain, contains more than moisture. It contains nitrogen and trace elements of phosphorus and sulfur, among others. These elements are “washed” out of the atmosphere with the snow and land on our fields, yards and gardens. Studies show that the presence of these trace elements is actually increasing as by-products of industrialization and emissions. And they are absolutely free to gardeners!
How much nitrogen do you actually get from snowfalls over the course of a year? The answer to that would depend on where you live and how much snow you get. Generally speaking, it might be about seven pounds of nitrogen per acre, plus or minus a few pounds. Considering that farmers might spread a hundred pounds of nitrogen per acre, seven pounds isn’t a lot, but the key word here is “free”. Since we didn’t have to take out our checkbooks to get it, nitrogen is a very nice side benefit to the beauty of a snowfall.
While rain and lightning also contain nitrogen, snow has a few clear gardening advantages over these other two free sources:
• Snow stays around for a while, setting free its nutrients in a slow release form
• Snow helps insulate plants from fluctuations in temperature which can cause heaving and related problems caused by frequent freezing and thawing.
• Snow makes small plants such as strawberries less visible to hungry critters
• In the springtime, snow helps prevent plant growth from starting too early
• Unlike snow, a lot of rain can actually leach nutrients away from the roots of your plants.
According to The Dictionary of American Regional English, residents of Nova Scotia break their spring snowfalls into three categories:
• The Robin’s Snow which occurs just after the robins migrate back
• The Smelt Snow when smelt are running in the rivers near the coast (and)
• Poor Man’s Fertilizer which comes on the freshly plowed land in the Spring
Now, those folks get a whole lot more snow up there than we do here on Delmarva, so we suppose it stands to reason that they might have more names for it. Not a word, however, on what they call their first snowfall of the year.
The Gardening Grannies, a mature group of avid and Master Gardeners, live, love and garden on the Delmarva Peninsula. We can be reached at gardeninggrannies@47abc.com and we look forward to hearing from you.
