Snow as Winter Mulch

Mulch plays as important a role in winter as it does in summer, as Marie Iannotti discusses in this article on winter mulch. Sometimes, Old Man Winter does the mulching for you, dumping a thick layer of his cold "winter mulch" on top of the landscape. Many welcome this contribution to yard care from Old Man Winter. But if I had my druthers, I'd rather take care of the mulching myself, thank you.

Don't get me wrong: folks who point to the virtue of snow as a winter mulch are quite correct. But this is a case where my head says one thing, my heart another. I'm a plant-lover and want my plants to survive the winter in good shape; but besides loving plants, I love other things, too. I love a good walk outside, for instance: being able to enjoy a walk through the neighborhood helps me to keep my sanity (such as it is) during the winter. But snow definitely impedes my enjoyment of walking. And it's not even so much the snow itself that bothers me, as it is what the snow becomes. For, in my region, at least, the snow invariably melts at some point in winter, then re-freezes -- as ice. And not only are icy roads dangerous to drive on, they're no picnic to walk on, either.