Mother Nature’s best winter fertilizer helps local farmers outsmart winter

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – When you hear the word snow, what comes to your mind? Probably not farming. 

Believe it or not, though, snow is actually the best poor-man’s fertilizer.

At Western Kentucky University’s Top Crops farm for adults with special needs, co-founder Bill Greer said the snow that came last week worked for their vegetables as a thermal blanket. 

“It kept the cold air from really seeping in through cracks and crevices,” said Greer. 

Snow contains nitrogen and sulfur, making the powdery substance the perfect makeshift fertilizer. 

Southcentral Kentucky farmers are adapting to wintertime challenges, and Top Crops is on the upside of the learning curve thanks to their high tunnel enclosure.

Bill’s wife and Top Crops co-founder Carol Greer said, “In the last eight years since we’ve started this, we’ve noticed that more and more people have access to high tunnels or low tunnels, caterpillar tunnels and people are growing year round.”

Because of this, adults with special needs like the Bill and Carol’s daughter Ginna can garden-year round.

“We don’t have to wait till spring or summer for some of the good vegetables, some of the beautiful flowers, said Carol Greer.

The Geer family happily predicts that Wintertime farming is here to stay.