Legumes

The nitrogen fixers

Clover, vetch, and peas do what no bag of fertilizer can: they pull nitrogen from the air and leave it in the soil, free, for the next crop.

Their job

fix       atmospheric N, via rhizobia
build     soil N for the following crop
feed      blooms for the pollinators
mix       often seeded with a cereal

Why it matters

A legume is a fertilizer plant that runs on sunlight. Plant it before the hungry crop, and the bill shrinks.