Salt, plows, and the edge of the lawn

De-icing salt reaches a Cheyenne yard two ways. Meltwater runs into the soil, and slush gets shoveled or plowed onto the lawn and the beds. CSU Extension says street and sidewalk salt often leaves high salt in the soil next to pavement. Plants then have a harder time taking up water. The damage shows up as burned edges, thin spots, and bare ground along the walk, sometimes not until the lawn tries to green up.

Shovel the snow first. Salt is not a substitute for removal. Where you can stay safe without a de-icer, CSU points at sand or another abrasive for traction. If you do spread one, keep it on the pavement at the labeled rate. Do not scoop salted snow onto the lawn, onto shrub roots, or into a bed. In spring, a slow deep watering is what leaches salt below the roots, and only where the soil actually drains.

Interlocking concrete pavers can be plowed. A steel edge that rides the joints will chip them. The Concrete Masonry & Hardscapes Association says to push snow diagonal to the joints, and to fix any lip higher than about 1/8 inch before winter. Skid shoes should hold the blade just above the surface. A plastic shovel or a synthetic cutting edge marks the surface less where the patio has to stay presentable. Worn metal shoes can leave rust-colored filings in the face of the paver.

On the concrete itself, that same guide says rock salt, sodium chloride, is the least damaging de-icer, used only at the labeled dose. Magnesium chloride and calcium magnesium acetate are the ones to skip on concrete pavers. They can degrade it. Rock salt is easier on the paver and harder on the turf, so the working rule does not change. Melt the ice on the walk, then get the slush off before it sits. Do not store the salted pile on the pavers.

November is when you decide where the snow will live for the season. A pile against arborvitae, or on the drip line of a young tree, is a salt and weight problem by February. A pile on the uphill side of a patio drains across the pavers every time a chinook cuts the berm. Mark the lawn edge and the paver border with stakes tall enough to see over a drift, and tell whoever plows which side of those stakes is safe.

Jose and Juan's Landscaping quotes driveway snow after we see where that pile can sit. The stake line is the prep. The rest of the winter is just keeping the blade on the safe side of it.