Every winter, southern New Englanders apply tons of ice melting materials to sidewalks, driveways and steps. These chemical deicers will remove ice but they can damage the environment if not used carefully.

Most de-icing chemicals are technically "salts" that work by lowering the freezing point of water below 32 degrees. There are a number of different products that have different minimum working temperatures and speed of action. Most of the products cause wear and tear on concrete and metal surfaces. Also, in our gardens, these salts can damage plants in two ways:

• Avoid using traditional road salt (sodium chloride). It is the most harmful to plants and also has the highest potential to contaminate waterways (it is very soluble).
• Always use a deicer product after you have shoveled and swept – don’t try to use it to melt the snow and ice – shovel or sweep away as much as possible, then put the deicer down – in a very thin layer.
• Applying deicer after shoveling will also protect your plants by keeping you from shoveling snow that contains deicers directly on to the plants.
• When you can, substitute an abrasive material such as sand or kitty litter for salt. This can be messy (when tracked into the house) but the sand or kitty litter won’t harm your plants and will provide good traction on ice.
• If you need a little more melting power, try mixing the deicing salt with sand or kitty litter so that you can reduce the amount of salt used. This will melt the ice and provide traction.

• Keep plants as far back from the road as possible.
• Plant salt tolerant species next to roads or driveways and walkways that are likely to be treated with salt. For example, white oaks and white ash trees can tolerate more salt spray than white pines and hemlocks.
• A list of salt tolerant plants can be obtained by calling the URI CELS Outreach Center Gardening Hotline at 1-800-448-1011.

• Put up a snow fence to protect low-growing shrubs and small trees.
• Or use burlap to protect your plants from damage.