Natural Ways to Boost Nitrogen in Your Garden This Fall

When we talk about healthy soil, nitrogen is the star player. It’s what gives plants their deep green color, fuels leafy growth, and keeps everything from lawns to roses looking their best. But every rainy season, a lot of that nitrogen gets washed away, leaving your soil a little tired and your plants a little pale.

Luckily, there are easy, natural ways to restore balance without reaching for synthetic fertilizers.

1. Add Compost

Good compost is like a multivitamin for your soil. It feeds the microbes, improves texture, and adds slow-release nitrogen that plants can actually use. Spread 1–3 inches of compost in your garden beds before the rainy season hits. It’ll break down over winter and set the stage for strong growth in spring.

2. Plant a Cover Crop

Cover crops like clover, vetch, fava beans, and alfalfa are powerhouse plants known as nitrogen fixers. They partner with soil bacteria to pull nitrogen straight from the air and store it in their roots. When you turn them into the soil in spring, they release that stored nitrogen back into the earth, a free, natural fertilizer.

3. Choose Nitrogen-Fixing Shrubs

Want something more permanent? Try Ceanothus (California lilac), a beautiful native evergreen that blooms with blue or white flowers and quietly enriches the soil year after year. It’s drought-tolerant, pollinator-friendly, and thrives in our North Bay coastal climate.