Plant Gardens 101

For mineral utilization AND nitrogen fixation, one just cannot go past lucerne. This legume has extraordinarily deep roots and brings up a lot of trace elements. I mainly use lucerne in the walkways, as a good way to utilize what is basically fallow soil. I cut it from an early stage, just as flowers form, and continue to do so from then on.

Being penultimate to flowering, then being denied the chance, forces the plant to become biennial. This then affords an in-situ supply of nitrogenous mulch for the beds. Lucerne, being attractive to aphis, acts as a food source for ladybirds, also as a shelter belt for beneficial insects.

I have tried using clover as a living mulch, nitrogen fixer, but found it to be far too invasive, to the point of rapaciousness as it practically took over the garden. The old adage ” One year’s seeding, seven years weeding” holds well for the variety of clover I chose (Subterranean clover). This stuff actually buried its own seed! I kid you not – I have actually witnessed the process. (more…)

For nitrogen fixation, with very few exceptions, beans are best and indeed, all leguminous plants.

Beans, in particular, are compatible with most plants, although the allium family is highly antagonistic. Try it. Plant beans next to garlic – and watch them sulk.

In the legume family, that of broad-beans, or fava-beans, is probably the best nitrogen supplier I have ever seen. There are certain periods throughout the plants growth, where, not only can you SEE the nitrogen nodules, but, they are actually able to be weighed. (more…)

Healthy cell growth and the process of photosynthesis in your home vegetable garden’s plants are two of the many reasons why nitrogen is needed. Without adequate supplies of nitrogen you will be inhibiting both processes and that is not good to produce healthy fruits and veggies.

Due to the volatility of nitrogen, you can easily run short of this important element in no time. Nitrogen can escape in the air and more commonly get washed away when you water your plants too much or receive excessive rain falls.

For these reasons stated above nitrogen needs to be added more often. If you do not have a tester that will give you a reading of nitrogen in the soil, you will easily tell with your eyes when the leaves of the plants start turning yellow and/or brown. Many novice gardeners think, when the leaves are turning color like this, it is due to not enough water. So they water some more and that washes even more nitrogen away making the soil conditions worse. (more…)

The chemical symbol for nitrogen. Used in the formula NPK of a complete fertilizer.