Tag Archives: legumes

Garden Advice

Great Beans & Peas: Using Legume Inoculant

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If you’ve been gardening for a while, you’ve probably heard that beans, peas, and other legumes are nitrogen-fixing, meaning that they add nitrogen to the soil as they grow. However, many gardeners are less aware of exactly how this process works.

This process is a symbiotic relationship between legumes and specific types of bacteria called Rhizobacteria. These bacteria cause legumes to grow nodules on their roots. The bacteria live on the nodules and get carbohydrates from the plants. In return, the bacteria take nitrogen from the air and convert it to a form that is accessible to the plants.

Why do I need to inoculate? Doesn’t this bacteria occur naturally?

Rhizobacteria do occur naturally in some soil. However, there may be little to none present, particularly if you haven’t grown legumes in that area for several years. Legumes perform better with more bacteria present.

If you’ve ever had legumes fail to thrive, a lack of rhizobacteria may be part of the problem. Adding inoculant will ensure that there’s enough present to perform nitrogen fixation.

Using legume inoculant can:

  • Improve vigor and health of legume plants.
  • Improve yields.
  • Increase nitrogen available for other plants.
Guard-N Inoculant

How do I inoculate my legumes?

Inoculating legume seeds is very simple. All you need to do is moisten your seeds and dust them with a bit of inoculant. You should plant them within 24 hours of inoculating.

We provide full instructions as well as more information on the Guard-N Inoculant we carry here.

The inoculant mix we carry at SESE contains Bradyrhizobium sp. (Vigna), Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar viceae, Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar phaseoli, and Bradyrhizobium japonicum. It can be used with:

  • Garden peas, including shelling, snap, and snow peas
  • Sweet peas
  • Lima beans
  • Soybeans
  • Fava beans
  • Southern peas
  • Asparagus beans
  • Common beans such as snap beans
  • Peanuts
  • Sunn hemp
  • Vetch (Vicia sp.) including Hairy Vetch, but not Crown Vetch.

Late Spring Sale

We’re currently having a late spring sale. Our Guard-N Inoculant is 20% off! Order yours today to ensure that your beans, peas, peanuts, and other legumes thrive this season.

Garden Advice

Austrian Winter Peas

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May2016 (176) flowering Austrian Winter Peas prcsd

Last fall I scattered Austrian Winter Pea seeds over several of the small beds in the herb garden next to our office, and lightly raked them in.  For the past couple of weeks, every other day or so I pinch off a few of their small shoots as I walk from the house to the office and back.  Like many children, I relish the ability to eat vegetables right in the garden, within a few moments of picking them.  At this time of year, I cherish the diversity Austrian Winter Peas add to the range of very fresh food I can eat.Feb2017 (18) Penny eats Austrian Winter Peas prcsd


Yesterday I brought some pea shoots to Penny and her mother Scarlet, and then I brought Penny and Scarlet to the Austrian Winter Peas.  Penny devoured them, and Scarlet said that one of her favorite memories of her own childhood was of eating peas and pea shoots in her neighbor’s garden in British Columbia.

In a few weeks I’ll be frequently snipping off a bowlful at a time of large, lush shoots, adding them to salads and stir-fries, as well as snacking on them.

May2016 (80) Austrian Winter Peas prcsd

Like other legumes, these peas form relationships with rhizobial bacteria in the soil that pull nitrogen out of the air and make it available both to the pea plants themselves, and to the next crop we plant in these beds.  Austrian Winter Peas are more frequently planted as a cover crop than for eating.  Our half-pound package is appropriate as a cover crop for small gardens, and as food crop for gardens, homesteads, and other small farms.  For maximum nitrogen fixation, we could decide to till these peas under shortly after they start to flower.  Or, we could leave them a little longer to enjoy the two-tone purple edible flowers.

May2016 (184) flowering Austrian Winter Peas prcsdwinter peas in rye prcsdI wish I was a better record-keeper and could tell you what day I planted this small crop of Austrian Peas.  The best time is 4-6 weeks before your first fall frost, but I planted well past that date.  Even planting them now would yield some benefit in our climate, and in colder parts of the country, Austrian Winter Peas are generally spring-planted as soon as the soil can be worked.  They can take lower temperatures than other peas, even a little below 0°F for short periods, but if you plant them in fall in zone 7 or colder, you might want to mix the seed with rye to shelter the pea plants through the winter.