Giving Your Garden a Hit of Nitro…gen!
- Edward Phillips
- Jun 3
- 3 min read
How to help get more nitrogen into your garden using nitrogen fixers
When you’re an eco-conscious person, you end up hearing a lot about gas. From carbon emissions out of cars and factories to methane from livestock, the pollution in the air is a big conversation.
One gas that is less talked about happens to be the most abundant gas in our atmosphere, and ironically, is the gas plants want in the ground most desperately.
That gas is nitrogen.
Why is nitrogen so important to plants?
Nitrogen is a major part of maintaining a healthy plant. Nitrogen is fundamental in a plant's growth and self maintenance. The element is used by plants to create proteins, amino acids, and chlorophyll which are all necessary to facilitate a plants photosynthesis.
However, plants cannot gather the nitrogen from the air, and the nitrogen gas must be converted into a usable version in the soil through a process called nitrogen fixing.
What is nitrogen fixing?
Nitrogen fixing or nitrogen fixation is not something all plants can do. Plants don’t fix nitrogen on their own, but certain plants, like legumes, form partnerships with bacteria that do.
Rhizobium bacteria is capable of converting nitrogen in the atmosphere to usable nitrogen in the soil for plants to feed on. The rhizobium bacteria lives on nitrogen fixing plant roots, creating a system that primarily feeds the host plant for its life cycle. When that plant is trimmed or naturally passes, the nitrogen rich plant is decomposed into the soil filling it with nitrogen.
What plants are the best for nitrogen fixing?
There is a large list of nitrogen fixing plants that we can grow here in Ontario, but one that stands out in both its viability for nitrogen fixing, in cutting costs and in creating a more eco-friendly garden is white clover and planting a clover lawn!
The clover lawn!
Traditional grass lawns are an ecological and cost sink. The expensive watering as well as the need for constant maintenance is a huge time sink for homeowners. Alongside that, planting a lawn is a long arduous process that has few cost effective options.
All of that is solved by the clover lawn. Clover lawns only should be watered as needed and alongside that they are far easier to install and maintenance is needed more infrequently. Clover lawns can significantly cut down on water bills and eliminate the need for synthetic fertilizers.
The clover used to produce a clover lawn is a major nitrogen fixer which will both help the clover itself grow, and, when it is cut, will also help the neighboring plants in your garden.
And on top of that all, white clover when allowed to flower, attracts pollinators. Another huge element of making your garden as healthy as can be.
When to make the transition.
The best time to commit to a clover lawn is in the spring, early summer and fall when the ground is wet from rain. It is easier to install and the clover seeds will be more inclined to dig into the soil and grow quickly.
Are you ready to start helping the soil by planting nitrogen fixers?
Reach out and we can get you sorted with all sorts of Native Ontario plants that will give you a leg up on climate change while looking spectacular.
Sources
AI DISCLAIMER: AI was used to check grammar as well to help fact check and confirm the biological/scientific aspects of this post.
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