Comments on: Frost, a Gardener’s Good Friend

By: Kathy Purdy

Kathy Purdy — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 23:27:01 +0000

Thank you, firefly, for digging up some information on why snow would be called “poor man’s fertilizer.”

By: firefly

firefly — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 21:13:24 +0000

If you Google “snow nitrogen” you’ll find quite a few links on the subject. One source I found estimated that snow and rain can deposit from 2 to 12 pounds of nitrogen per acre.

In lieu of compost (I didn’t get around to starting a compost pile this year), I bought a lot of organic soil at end-of-season prices and put a layer down on the beds, hoping it would do some good by spring, so I’m glad to read this article.

In fact, I’ll stop cussing at the squirrels who have been digging madly, and thank them for breaking up the soil instead!

By: Kathy Purdy

Kathy Purdy — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 02:56:00 +0000

Carol, I don’t know how to make a bona fide caption, but if you hover your cursor over the picture, you will see it was taken this past January. We did have glorious weather this weekend. I have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming. However, I have a cold and looked at the sunshine more than did anything in it.

By: Carol

Carol — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 02:50:19 +0000

I don’t know if snow has anything special in it, I’ve never heard that and don’t remember reading about it, and I thought I had read all the LIW books.

I love a good, cold frost. Please tell me the picture above is not from this weekend in your garden, but just a good one you had on file. I hope you enjoyed some of the good weather we had in the midwest this weekend.

By: Kathy Purdy

Kathy Purdy — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 21:40:42 +0000

I googled Malone, NY, and if it’s the same one that Almanzo lived in (small towns do change their name on occasion), he lived way north of me. The closest big city is Montreal, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it was USDA Hardiness Zone 3. I remember that same scene in the book, but I really don’t know what Wilder was referring to. It makes me wonder if snow traps nitrogen. If anyone knows, please enlighten us.

By: M Sinclair Stevens (Texas)

M Sinclair Stevens (Texas) — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 20:43:30 +0000

There’s a line in Laura Ingalls Wilder Farmer Boy where Almanzo’s father is pleased with an early snow before the ground is frozen. He plows it under and tells Almanzo that it was poor man’s fertilizer and “carried something from the air into the ground that would make the crops grow.”

Would the additional moisture cause more heaving and breaking up of the soil when the ground did freeze? Or was it something else? Or just rural legend? They were farming up Malone, New York? Is that anywhere near you?