Best Way to Counteract Too Much Nitrogen in Soil?

[driftfarm]

This year I changed over my in-ground garden to a raised bed garden requiring me to buy more dirt, which was 50/50 compost/loam. I planted a number of vegetables, two of which were peas and beans. The peas provided a moderate crop, and the bean plant was full of greens and not a bean. In research I have surmised that it's b/c the soil has too much nitrogen. Question: How to I counteract the nitrogen so the rest of my plants are okay?

[imafan26]

Nitrogen is a volatile element. One of the main reasons it is not included on a soil test is because the level is constantly changing.

The easiest thng to do is to not add any more nitrogen and plant leafy greens which can use the nitrogen.
As long as the greens grow robustly, you probably have a lot of nitrogen in the soil.

After you redo the bed, add more compost before planting your next crop. I would avoid planting root vegetables until the nitrogen levels have dropped otherwise you will get a lot of tops and not much roots.

You can test if the nitrogen levels have dropped by planting radishes. It is a short crop, if the levels have dropped sufficiently the radishes will form bulbs if not you see more top growth and not much roots.

One of my plots does have a lot of nitrogen, and the pH is acidic. Great for tomatoes, spinach, kale, chard and corn but not good for beets, daikon, or taro. I planted one crop of corn adding only blood meal as a slow release nitrogen and compost and got my usual 7 ft cornstalks with up to three ears on each plant. I added nothing to the next set of plantings and the height of the corn was cut by 1/3, so the nitrogen depleted fairly rapidly especially when a high nitrogen feeder crop like corn is planted.

[Gary350]

Saw dust will remove nitrogen from the soil pretty quick. I mulched my plants one year with sawdust, plants turned yellow and almost died. After 2 weeks I raked away all the saw dust then put down some fertilizer. I only lost 3 plants. It took the plants about a month to turn green again.

[jal_ut]

Water.

[gixxerific]

I second water.

As stated nitrogen is very sketchy. It can show up heavy one day and not the next. It is also more likely to wash out with rain just keep doing what you are doing.

[Smallgardener]

Nitrogen is needed to break down any organic material like sawdust. That is why the N was short after putting the sawdust down. Water will leach the N down into the profile in sandy soils.

Long term I plant wheat in my garden in the fall so it will use up the nitrogen during the fall, winter and spring. Then I kill it of or till it in before planting.

[imafan26]

While water does work. It is best to use up the nitrogen rather than leach it. Depending on your location the excess nitrogen can pollute waterways.

http://www.composterconnection.com/pollution.html