Q: As the Winter approaches, I’m getting ready to stock up on salt for the walkways and driveway. I’ve heard this can also be harmful for the grass. Is this true? If so, why?

A: Since I’m a bit of a science geek at heart, this is one of those questions I really look forward to. Unfortunately, when I get into a scientifically precise discussion of various chemical forces, the result is usually that readers will get about two sentences into the first paragraph, and will quickly flip the pages to find out what Dilbert is up to. With that in mind, let me try a slightly different approach.

Imagine for a minute that you are standing in a crowded environment. For our purposes, it could be anything from a busy nightclub or tavern to a standing room only church during Easter or Christmas services. Either way, imagine that pretty much everybody there has really, really bad body odor. Gross enough for you yet?

Okay, so you are in this environment and for your own reasons, you aren’t planning to leave. Neither is anybody else. So what does everybody do? My guess is that everybody will seek to distance themselves as much as possible from each of the other attendees, of course not realizing that they too are part of the problem. You’ll end up with a room full of people very evenly separated from one another. Now, what happens when a newcomer arrives? Everybody shifts a bit to make room, and the room again takes on a completely evenly spread appearance, only somewhat more tightly packed now. Someone else shows up? Pack everybody more tightly together while they all continue to seek space.

Salt has the same effect on soil as the bad smell has on the people in that scenario. The soil particles lose the ability to bind with other particles, so they begin to repel each other. Contrary to what might seem obvious, the net result is that the soil actually becomes much more tightly packed, with little or no room for water and nutrients to get through. It actually becomes more like concrete and less like soil. Do I really need to explain why this is bad?

Now imagine instead that these other folks have much more of an attraction for one another and actually seek to get closer and closer. While this may seem more plausible in the nightclub scenario and less so in the church service, bear with me here. Would the entire group clump together into one large group hug? Probably not. What you would see is small groups of people grouped closely together with larger spaces between these groups. Those larger spaces would easily allow for newcomers to peruse the scene without feeling crowded. Soil with good structure is similar to this second scenario. Soil particles clump together, thereby creating space for water, nutrients, and root growth.

So, how do you get this good structure? Organic matter will give the soil the glue-like substance that it needs to bind itself into these tiny clods. If you have issues with concrete like soil, it could be a result of excessive salt. Regardless of the cause though, amending the soil by tilling in some good compost will help give it the right consistency and will allow better conditions for grass growth. For those areas that are impacted by salts, try enriching them by mixing in some compost. The soil will gasp with relief. Trust me.