Very vetching

Common Vetch (Vicia sativa)

It's been a rather late spring on our cool, windy hill this year, but things are finally starting to really grow. And as we inch towards summer, Common Vetch (Vicia sativa) is one of the flowers beginning to make an appearance. It's rambling through some of the taller grasses in the pocket meadow and on the bank, its leafy tendrils coiling around the grass stems. As a legume (that is, a member of the pea family), it has a hidden superpower; it's capable of fixing its own nitrogen. That atmospheric element, which is vital for healthy plant growth, is out of reach for most plants. Legumes, on the other hand, contain bacteria in their roots which can convert nitrogen into nitrates, which help the plants to grow. And those nitrates become available to other plants when the legumes eventually die. Because of their nitrogen-fixing ability, legumes are often grown as "fertilizer factories", and Common Vetch was, for many years, one of the species used in agricultural crop rotation. Now, it's widespread across lowland Britain, preferring dry and sandy soils in grassland, farmland, waste areas and along the coast. The flowers are visited primarily by bumblebees, making them very welcome in our garden.