Natural Nitrogen Fixation...

If you would note the piece that I posted here last August entitled, " How large the habitat project?", you might recall that the 3-acre parcel is behind my house and a continuing project of mine. Last year I had merely disked the ground to regenerate the natural seedbank and wound up w/ a field full of native grasses and clovers which greatly enhanced the bird population around my house.

Most people are aware that clovers are a legume and most varieties will fixate nitrogen naturally in the soil, improving the fertility. Clovers are a predominantly cool season grass that thrive through the winter and lie dormant in the hot summer. This year, as hot and dry as it's been, I'm not sure dormant is the word... maybe dead is a better one. Point is, clovers not only provide excellent wildlife benefits, but enrich the soil as well.

Another beneficial native legume that also provides food and cover for wildlife is Partridge Pea.

http://www.easywildflowers.com/quality/chamae6.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamaecrista_fasciculata

Since I was gone for 3 months last fall, my field of native grasses and forbs got a little overgrown and shaded out my clover through the winter. By the time I got home and got it mowed, the thatch was so thick that it just covered everything. I tried disking it again, but it was still too thick and simply clogged up the disk w/ thatch. Consequently, I burned it off last March and cut it up again w/ the disk, leaving me w/ a plowed field ready to grow something.

I considered planting anything from sweet corn to a quail mix. But realizing that we were in a La Nina weather pattern this year and likely to be dry, I decided to let the natural seedbank germinate again to see what I got this year. It's a good thing I did because this has been a miserable summer w/ extended triple digit days and very little rain.

When the natural seedbank began to grow, I found that I had a field full of Partridge Pea mixed w/ other native grasses and forbs. Realizing that the Partridge Pea would serve as a natural fertilizer for my field as well as food and cover for the birds that I already had here, I decided to just let it grow. And realizing that this was going to be a stressful summer for the local wildlife as well, it was an easy decision to make.

The neighbors are all wearing me out on their back porches about my weed patch, but the birds have found it a bonanza for seeds and insects in a tough year to make a living. But wildlife is my neighbor too, and it outnumbers the porch watchers...

There still haven't been any visits from deer or turkey here that I've noticed, but the squirrels and raccoons and coyotes are frequent visitors, along w/ a few hawks and owls. And still no quail... but I keep hoping. Too much fescue around me still, I think...

The field has pretty much dried up w/ all the heat and lack of rain to date, so I figure I'll mow it as soon as I get a day that isn't in triple digits...  Man, it's been HOT this year!!  Then later in the fall, providing we get some rain to soften the blackland and shrink the cracks in the soil, I may reseed the field in clover to start the process again. But, at least, I know that what I've done (or not done) has improved the fertility of my soil w/o the high cost of chemical fertilizer.