Vegetables: The Power of Peas

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Pillita Keystone Heights, FL (Zone 8b) September 29, 2009 09:55 PM	This summer, I had two flowerbeds sitting nearly empty and I got a wild hair to try peas. The ones I found were pink-eyed purple hulls. The peas produced were very good. My question is about the power of peas. I have read that peas have the ability to fix nitrogen and that they are good for cover crops, but I am a little unclear on what exactly that means for the soil and surrounding plants. If I leave the pea plants in place (problematic to turn them under), will that benefit the plants that will be put in those beds next, even though they will likely be perennials, not vegetables? Also, I'm curious about the cosmos shown in the picture. It is a volunteer amongst the peas. Nearly seven feet tall (DH is 6'2"), it is far above any other in the yard. Did the peas do this? Shall I have to turn into Pillita the Cowpea Fairy and merrily disperse them throughout all of the flowerbeds? Lastly, I had someone tell me that the benefit of peas is to be found in the leaves. If that is the case, then should I just let the pea leaves fall as they may or will the value be lost once they fall off the plant? Thanks. View Larger
Jim41 Delhi, LA September 29, 2009 11:09 PM	Peas are legumes and form nodules on the roots that are composed of nitrogen. Turning the peas under is an extra benefit as it adds organic matter to the soil.
Pillita Keystone Heights, FL (Zone 8b) September 30, 2009 03:36 PM	That's the standard explanation I read in my gardening books, but what does that mean in the real world and in relation to other present and future plants? It would be extremely difficult to turn them under. I can't till there because of tree roots and I don't want to move the half-rotted wooden edging because I'd never get it back in place without it crumbling to bits. Is leaving the dead plants in place over the winter going to be any benefit at all? It's heavily mulched so I'm not worried about anything else coming up in its place until I plant next spring.
Farmerdill Augusta, GA (Zone 8a) September 30, 2009 04:23 PM	If you are heavily mulched , just cut the vines down and add them to the mulch. Legumes are good for the soil, but they are no magic bullet. They do add a small of nitogen more so than other types of plants, because they do pull nitrogen from the air and convert it to a nitrogen salt that plants can use. But don't demand miracles.
jjconcepts Milford, CT (Zone 6a) October 02, 2009 02:32 PM	My limited understanding is that some farmers will use clover as a cover crop - adding nitrogen to the soil like peas, than tilling them under when rotating crops. but I believe it is a several year process. It does help as in home gardening i do the "three sisters planting" squash , corn, and peas. peas as an aid- not a substitute for fertilizer. ( i compost everything by holloween rather than till in) I don't leave spent crops out because I would l still have to till in - they don't decompose quick enough in our cold winter to leave out. They will however be good compost next fall. Florida weather mey turn them into compst in the field for you, if you run them over with a lawn mower. I hope this helps -joe-
Pillita Keystone Heights, FL (Zone 8b) October 02, 2009 02:51 PM	The leaves have fallen off most of the pea plants and are pretty much gone at this point. The stalks remain. I may just pull them up come spring, if there is anything left, and lay them in place. I have not studied much on cover crops or their uses because we use our garden year-round. I add new soil mix each time I plant because I'm still trying to get it converted it from sand to soil. We're also practicing no-till, which is a lot more work for me, but impossible to do any other way because I've always got some kind of crop still producing. It was just a fluke, as I said, that I ended up planting peas in a flowerbed and I was curious about the effects on the surrounding plants. But if I don't try, then I'll never know! I'll googled three sisters planting. Very interesting. I like the idea of a harmonious garden. I did experiment with some interplanting and consider it a subject worthy of more trial. Thanks.
jjconcepts Milford, CT (Zone 6a) October 05, 2009 09:07 AM	it can work.. I put garlic tomatoes basil and marigolds together - garlic will keep the top loose when you harvest just in time for tomatoes to go in ( i just pull where the tomato plant goes in) - garlic is ready in early july here and tomatoes go in the ground late june. th basil and marigolds go in where the garlic was ( marigolds are supposed to stop some ground critters, and look good too) when tomatoes have about hat it it is time for the garlic bulbs to go in again and wait for the snow to thaw to do it again!. you are right, it is really nice to have the plants work together, there are some that don't work so well together, but i never got that far into researching it.. someday perhaps. good luck -joe-
Pillita Keystone Heights, FL (Zone 8b) October 05, 2009 02:58 PM	I bought Carrots Love Tomatoes. It talks some about which plants can benefit others and why, but it just hasn't clicked in my head yet.
jjconcepts Milford, CT (Zone 6a) October 06, 2009 09:01 AM	Some of it does, and some doesn't work great. quite often i've found some of it is like a puzzle. I took what works for me and even if the benefits are marginal, the stress of planning some areas of the veggie areas are gone. You can plant some of the companions quite tight together. For a test run I planted corn and tomatoes together in a 4x4 section of my small cornfield (planted corn with normal spacing than squeezed in 5 tomato plants spaced as if the corn wasn't there). The theory is that they share different root zones and the corn will hold up the tomatoes. I must say that everything produced the same or similar, however everything got quite tight and I did have to tie tomato plants to the corn. I didn't require stakes and got much more food per square foot then otherwise. but the peas, squash, and corn all intertwined - production wise - is far more outstanding. Keep on the homework and things will fall into place. I imagine that you can easily grow 4-6 crops in the same bed with the longer season... just keep feeding the soil. -joe-

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