Usefulness of Nitrogen for Plant Growth in Kitchen Gardens

Among the different types of fertilizers used in the common kitchen garden, nitrogen fertilizers have good importance. Common fertilizers have Nitrogen, Potassium, and Phosphorus (NPK). Nitrogen is

Green leaves need nitrogen for growth

responsible for foliage growth and if the soil is lacking enough nitrogen, then the plants and lawn grass will not give out enough leaves and so they wither and die.

Nitrogen is present in the form of ammonia in fertilizers like urea (CO (NH₂)₂ ) and ammonium nitrate (NH₄(NO₃)). The ammonia has nitrogen and hydrogen. The hydrogen comes from natural gas and nitrogen from the air. Most of the farmers fix nitrogen deficiency by one of the following methods:

1. Mixing coffee grounds with the soil.
2. Planting beans or peas that fix nitrogen in the soil.
3. Use of borage and other green manure crops. 
4. Use composted manure for enriching the soil. 

Plants need nitrogen in large amounts compared to all the other 16 nutrients. This is one of the basics of kitchen gardening. This is because nitrogen involves directly in the photosynthesis process. Nitrogen is freely available in the atmosphere

Plants can only get the nitrogen from the soil

because 78% of the the atmosphere is nitrogen. However, the plants can only absorb it when it is mixed with water. Importance of nitrogen is as follows:

• It is an essential part of vitamins.
• Plays a part in cell division leading to plant growth.
• Helps in the synthesis of energy needed for growth.
• Needed for making amino acids that helps make proteins. 
• Helps make carbohydrates and use them. 

The macro and micro nutrients help in the transportation, absorption, growth, and excretion processes in the plant. The macro nutrients needed by plants are Calcium, Potassium, Phosphorus, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Carbon, Magnesium, and Sulfur. The micro nutrients that the plants need are Nickel, Molybdenum, copper, zinc, manganese, iron, chlorine, and boron. Most of the major fertilizers contain one or more of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium.