Have you heard of nitrogen fixation?
Nitrogen fixation is a process by which nitrogen (N2) in the atmosphere is converted into ammonium (NH4+). Atmospheric nitrogen or molecular nitrogen (N2) is relatively inert: it does not easily react with other chemicals to form new compounds. The fixation process frees up the nitrogen atoms from their diatomic form (N2) to be used in other ways.
Nitrogen fixation, natural and synthetic, is essential for all forms of life because nitrogen is required to biosynthesize basic building blocks of plants, animals and other life forms, e.g., nucleotides for DNA and RNA andamino acids for proteins. Therefore nitrogen fixation is essential for agriculture and the manufacture of fertilizer. (From Wikipedia).
Peas are a part of the Legume family of plants. This family’s most common plants include peas, beans, peanuts, lentils, alfalfa, and soybeans.
Those plants have a special ability to take nitrogen from the air and store it within nodules in their root system. The nitrogen helps the plant grow and compete with other plants in the garden and when the plant dies the fixed nitrogen is released to the soil and becomes available to other plants.
It is all part of the wonderful cycle of nature!
Let’s take a closer look….
I dug up some of the roots of my peas. Can you see the nodules? They almost look like little clove buds. You will find few of them on the root system of every pea or bean plant in your garden.
Another look….
And another.
What you should do….
In order to take advantage of this wonderful natural fertilizer, you have to make sure to leave the nodules in the soil.
When your pea plants start to die…
Instead of yanking the plant out of the soil (like we do with so many other plants), cut the stem at ground level…
Toss the upper part in the compost pile and leave the root system in the soil. The nitrogen will release into the soil and will become available for whatever you are going to plant there next.
Make sure to plant your peas and beans in different areas of the garden every year so your entire garden will benefit from them.
Remember to care for your soil, in return it will take care of your plants.
Happy Gardening.
~Lady Lee~
Anna @ NorthernHomestead says
June 27, 2014 at 10:26 amThank you so much for this information, I had no idea. Pinning and hopefully remembering it this fall ;).
Lee says
June 27, 2014 at 3:55 pmYou are welcome. Please share if you can. I think many people don’t know this. Thanks.
Tanya @ Seven Springs Homestead says
July 9, 2014 at 11:11 pmThanks for sharing this post at The Green Thumb Thursday Garden Blog Hop. We hope you will join us again this week.
I never knew to leave the nodules in the ground while cleaning up the garden. Our peas are winding up and I will make sure to pass this bit of info onto my husband. Thanks!
Andrea says
September 28, 2014 at 8:19 pmThis is wonderful! I had heard about this before, but was looking for an article with specific information. I pulled up this year’s green beans because they are in a temporary growing spot (straw bales), but whenever I grow legumes in my raised beds from now on, I’ll be leaving the roots!
cenarock says
March 15, 2015 at 3:46 amthanks for the nice post.
site
Sheri Cline says
November 8, 2016 at 9:23 amA couple years ago I pulled some pea plants and studied the root system and saw huge clusters of these nodules. Because my raspberries are contained in a huge raised bed I chopped up all the pea plants (roots & all) and layered all of in as a “pea mulch” in the bed. I have to be honest and say “I had a feeling I didn’t do the right thing” by my soil where the peas grew.
Lee says
November 8, 2016 at 9:18 pmI actually was thinking about this a couple of times… Why not just through my kitchen scraps and plants clean up right back in the garden?
I guess it will be hard to work the garden and it won’t look that good…