Winter decided to come roaring in like a lion last week. That means most people will be busting out the rock salt.
Salt definitely helps manage ice. Unfortunately, it can seriously damage your plants, your grass, and your soil.
That’s why we wanted to take just a few minutes to share some tips which will help you protect your lawn and landscaping during what appears to be another long, harsh winter season on the horizon.
Use salt sparingly.
You should really only lay down salt in high-risk areas such as sidewalks and driveways. Even then, you should always shovel them first. Salt isn’t meant to do the entire job for you.
You can also dilute your salt with mixing it with sand or kitty litter. It’s just as effective, but the sand and litter are both harmless. They also work to provide some additional traction on your walkways.
Rinse them off.
Winter isn’t just one long monolith of snow. Sometimes, we get warmer days. We even occasionally get some early melts.
If we do get one of those early melts you have an opportunity to help your plants out. If any of them have been salt-saturated you can rinse them off. If the snow melts altogether before the winter is done then you can also take this opportunity to put down a plastic barrier so you won’t have to worry about salting those plants down again.
If you’re worried about protecting your fence, see our previous post: Will Rock Salt Damage my Fence?
Remember, we keep right on installing fences until the ground freezes over. If you live in Mequon, Fox Point, Wauwatosa or anywhere else in the Milwaukee metro area, call us for a free estimate.
