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While most plants seem to take nutrients from the soil, did you know that some plants can return nutrients? Here are some great plants to grow that will fix nitrogen into your soil.

When I say “fix nitrogen” I mean that the plants put nitrogen back into the soil. Nitrogen is one of the main macronutrients that plants need to grow and function.
If your soils do not have a sufficient amount of nitrogen your plants will grow slowly and may have symptoms such as yellowing leaves.
If you want to grow a healthy garden you need to understand which plants fix nitrogen, but first lets see how the plants do this.
How Do Plants Fix Nitrogen
There are some plants that take the nitrogen that naturally occurs in the air and they transform it into a bioavailable form for plants to use. The process of taking nitrogen from the air and putting into the soil is called nitrogen fixing.
78% of the air we breath is nitrogen! Even though our air is mainly comprised of nitrogen plants cannot use it when it is above the soil.
Plants need to absorb nitrogen through their roots not through their leaves. That is where nitrogen fixing plants come in.

When plants fix nitrogen they take the nitrogen from the air and store it in their roots. If you pull up plants that fix nitrogen you will find tiny orbs on the roots.
These orbs are where the plants store the nitrogen from the air. Now that the nitrogen is in the soil other plants can use it for growth.
Why Plant Nitrogen Fixers
You may already know that farmers like to rotate which crops they grow in their fields. One of the major reasons for this is the fact that plants pull different nutrients from the soil.
Gardeners can often forget to rotate their plantings each year, but this is a really important thing to do.
I don’t follow a strict crop rotating routine, but I do make sure to move where I plant things each year. For instance I move my bean plantings each year so that the whole garden gets the extra nitrogen the plants put into the soil.
Plants That Fix Nitrogen
Plants in the legume family are the most commonly known nitrogen fixing plants, but there are a myriad of plants that can fix nitrogen. Here is a list of plants you should grow to fix nitrogen into your soils.
Beans
All bean plants are great a fixing nitrogen and are one of the most common plants to grow for nitrogen. You can plant beans right next to other plants so they can take advantage of the nitrogen.

When I plant beans next to my corn it does really well and I believe this is due to the extra nitrogen in the soil.
Peas
Peas are another vegetable plants that can fix nitrogen. If you grow an early crop of peas leave the roots in the soil and plant another nitrogen loving crop in its place.
Clover
While we commonly think of clover as a weed it does fix nitrogen. You can grow clover as a cover crop to take advantage of the nitrogen.
Lupines
One of my favorite nitrogen fixers is lupine! Lupines are a flowering perennial plants that I have found very easy to grow.
Because lupines are perennials and nitrogen fixers they are perfect to interplant with other perennials. You can plant lupines in perennial landscaping, berry patches, or orchards.

The other perennial plants will be able to use the nitrogen that the lupines release into the soil. Lupines also look great, so plant them next to your perennial plants.
Peanuts
I live in a climate that is not suitable for peanuts so I don’t grow them. Peanuts do fix nitrogen, so if you live in a warmer climate try growing peanuts.
Alfalfa
Many gardeners don’t grow alfalfa, but it is a great nitrogen fixer. Many farmers will rotate fields with alfalfa because of its nitrogen fixing capabilities.
Butterfly Peas
Butterfly peas are different from other pea plants and are grown for their flowers. Butterfly peas are great at fixing nitrogen in the soil.

You can learn how to grow your own butterfly pea flowers here. They make a great natural food dye!
How To keep the nitrogen in the soil
These plants will add nitrogen into the soil, but there are a few steps you should take to keep that precious nitrogen in the soil.
Step 1: Cut don’t pull
When your nitrogen fixing plants die or when you want to remove them from the garden don’t pull them out of the soil. You should either, leave the whole plant, or just cut the plant to the soil level and leave the roots in the ground.
If you pull the roots out of the ground you are also pulling all those nitrogen orbs. When you leave the roots in the soil they will slowly release the nitrogen.
Step 2: Don’t till
Don’t till your garden in the fall. Tilling will expose the roots to the air and they will oxidize, and not release the nitrogen into the soil.
I like to leave my garden to rest over the winter before a light tilling in the spring. This allows the nitrogen fixing roots to release their nutrients over the winter.
Step 3: Add organic matter
Organic matter is the foundation of a healthy garden. This can come in the form of dead leaves, compost, grass clippings, etc.

When you add organic matter to your soil their is a electrical effect that is really beneficial. The organic matter has a negative charge while soil nutrients (like nitrogen) have a positive charge.
Opposite charges attract, so when you add organic matter to your soil it can hold onto to nutrients better. Add organic matter to your garden so it can hold onto nitrogen and other nutrients.
Conclusion
Nitrogen fixing plants can help you grow a garden that is lush and healthy. If you leave nitrogen fixing roots in the ground and add organic matter you can have soils that are full of nutrients for your plants.
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