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Legumes after legumes?
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Posted by Cosmicgardener N TAS Aust (My Page) on Sun, Mar 20, 05 at 0:22
Has anyone had a bumper crop of green beans this year. Mine have been spectacular - from only 14 plants I've nearly filled the Tuckerbox freezer and we've been eating them every day, even sneaked them into the daily juice.
I'm about the pull them up, but would like to know if its OK to plant snow peas in the same bed - seems a shame to waste the wire fence we grew the beans on.
Can one plant legumes after legumes? I seem to remember reading that beans in Australia don't alter the nitrogen in the soil to any great extent because the soil lacks some enzyme that can metabolise the nitrogen.
Do we have any soil technicians on board?
Cheers
Linda |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Legumes after legumes?
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| Linda, I'm not a soil technician. I have planted snow peas in the same spot as french beans and broad beans without any adverse effects. It worked for me. Usually I build up the soil before I plant anything in the same spot. Mulch, compost, chook poo, blood & bone, etc. I haven't had a bumper crop of beans at all. What type of green beans did you plant? |
RE: Legumes after legumes?
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| Mine went in late, well, I had to wait for some tommys to give up some ground :-) They are about a foot tall and looking good, but no flowers yet. |
RE: Legumes after legumes?
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Linda,
It's a bacterium that's missing, one of the rhizobium group, often unique to each leguminous plant. If you want them there you usually need to innoculate the seed before sowing. Green Harvest in Q'ld offers the innoculant with each packet, but it's optional. When you pull out the beans, roots and all, and if there are whitish nodules on the roots then the bacteria were present. I usually just pull out a few and if present, just cut the rest off at the base leaving the roots in the soil. No problem about following beans with peas in good quality soil, and it sounds to me as if you look after yours.
BTW, once innoculated for a particular legume, the bacteria usually hang a round as long you grow the same legume regularly. |
RE: Legumes after legumes?
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| Thanks for that information Raymondo - I will ceretainly follow your advice - if the nitrogen is there it's where its doing most good eh. Ozmantis, my beans were in late, mainly because I was off on holiday and they sat like pathetic weeds for weeks. Then all of a sudden they just took off, in the new year, flowered profusely and giving us a short six week picking season which is ending as suddenly as it began. I think the answer is in the stars - it certainly isn't in my scientific side. I'm not sure what variety theu are - because I got the seed from a neighbour but they are a slim, tender stringless sort - probably very common. Cheers
Linda |
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