Last updated
05 February 2012
Quest for the Good Life 
The Nitrogen Cycle
The Nitrogen Cycle is important. It is one of the key basic cycles that are operating all the time. We can’t see it but it’s there fixing nitrogen in the soil and making it available for our vegetable plants to use.
There’s no need to be too technical or scientific about the detail. At each point where it says Ammonium, Nitrites and Nitrates, there are specific bacteria involved. Each converts the others waste into a the next product. When it gets to Nitrates, as gardeners we are interested because this is the form of nitrogen that plants need and appears in fertilisers.
Some bacteria go the opposite way and use the same food plants need and sort of undo
the good work (De-
Others factors come into play such a lightening which fix atmospheric nitrogen into a form that can be used by plants.
So if you’re growing your own then it is important to input the plant material to start the cycle off. Then, without knowing it, you can start your very own Nitrogen cycle in your compost bin or garden soil. At least you know how this cycle plays its part in the breaking down of compost and the nutritional benefit to plants as a result.