snow peas good for the soil?

[roadrunner]

I've been looking into Regenerative Farming for quite some time now. When I first started looking into this, I thought building soil was simply a thing of no-till and using cover crops. However, as with most things, it's much more complicated than that.

I've been listening to people like Ray Archuleta, Gabe Brown and others in the field. Building soil goes way beyond simply no-till and adding cover crops. Furthermore, the cover crops one uses depends on one's needs based on their soil, climate and other factors. And there's a lot more to building soil than simply accumulating N2 in the soil. Basically it takes a lot of diversity in cover crops and not all of them are N2 fixers.

Some interesting videos

 

[Meadowlark]

'''. Basically it takes a lot of diversity in cover crops and not all of them are N2 fixers.

.....

I agree...and I use just about every plant on your list at one time or another during the year. My climate dictates when I can use what.

N2 fixing is only part of it. Soil building is a 365/24/7 activity in my garden. No question I would do it even if there was no N2 fixing as suggested completely erroneously above. The N2 fixing is real but just a bonus as far as I'm concerned.

High production is also only part of the benefit. Weed control is a huge aspect. Ability to sustain high production from the same soils, same plant types year after year without artificial fertilizers is very important to me...in my case over 40 years in the same garden spot growing the same types of plants. Insect control is another huge benefit. Less water requirements is another. Many benefits I'm not even aware of.

My long departed Grandmother practiced companion planting and cover crops to sustain her subsistence family. She taught my Mother (also deceased) who in turn taught me. I've often wondered where my Grandmother learned the techniques...probably from the indigenous peoples who recognized the benefits of soil building practices hundreds of years ago.

 

[headfullofbees]

My great-great-grandmother taught my great-grandmother witchcraft...
As for legumes, the science is simple:
They produce high numbers of high protein seeds, and, in order to do so, have evolved the means to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere & store it in nodules in their roots. When they flower they begin to call on these reserves and use them, more or less fully, when they set seed.
Afterwards the NITROGEN which is where that protein is derived is GONE, USED, DEPLETED.

ALL nitrogen fixing cover crops are incorporated into the soil PRIOR to flowering/seeding & that includes legumes.