redclay wrote:

Pam wrote in message
...
Faye Lifford-Earle wrote:
Yes indeed, it is safe to do this. the snow will provide moisture and
nitrogen to the soil, the grass seeds will remain dormant until enough
heat has been supplied (spring/summer). Just be sure to keep the birds
off the snow...lol
I'd be interested to know how snow provides nitrogen to the
soil.............?
I'd be interested to know how snow will supply nitrogen to the
soil.........?
It is called the nitrogen cycle and begins with the reaction between N2 and
O2 with lightening as the initiator forming NO which reacts with H2O forming
HNO3 which then falls to earth with either rain or snow. Any good
highschool chemistry book should have a complete discussion of it. An area
with moderate rainfall will receive 5 to 7 pounds of nitrogen per acre per
year from this naturally occurring reaction.

Thanks for the explanation - I opted out of high school chemistry in favor of
physics, so there are some holes in my basic education:-))

But, since it is normally recommended to apply nitrogen (when needed) at a rate
of 1 lb per 1000 square feet to actively growing lawns and plants, this natural
occurrence hardly seems significant enough to mention. And I would think that
there would be substantial denitrification from the moisture-laden soil, not to
mention that by the time the grass (or seed) was able to metabolize the
nitrogen, much of it would have leached down in to the soil to levels where it
would not be accessible to the plant roots. No?

pam - gardengal