GROW YOUR OWN NITROGEN

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The most common sweet clovers are biennial whites and yellows. The white-flowered types are the bushier of the two, and thus produce more green matter to dig in. And since the roots of biennials reach their largest size in the second spring — just before the blossoms appear — that's the time to turn your crop under if you want to add maximum nitrogen to the soil.

Sweet clover is just the ticket for pioneering new garden beds, too . . . in fact, I'm using it this year, along with other clovers (see the sidebar on scrounging seed) for just that purpose. The muscular roots should make next year's double-digging easier, and improve the soil to boot.

The mulch I used this year — on the other hand — came from a good stand of grasses mixed with white and hop clovers. Harvest was as easy as mowing the lawn ... which isn't surprising, since my "nitrogen field" is my lawn.

White (or Dutch) clover is a common sight in yards and pastures throughout the North and East. The clover and bluegrass have a "thing" for each other: Each ebbs and flourishes in response to the nitrogen levels in the soil. Hop clover, with its small yellow flowers, grows naturally with white clover in many places. Both go dormant in hot, dry weather . . . so if you want to use them as mulch, do so early in the year.

FIXIN' IT

Taking advantage of the green manure plants makes growing your own nitrogen easy. Remember, though, that legumes fix the most nitrogen when sown in poor soils (naturally, they don't need to work so hard in rich ground). So use them after heavy feeders ... or in troubled soil ... but USE THEM!

Providing your own nitrogen is a moneysaving, independence-building trick . . . and one that improves the soil that feeds us all!

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