Plant · P-092

Tufted Vetch

Vicia cracca

Tufted Vetch is a nitrogen-fixing vine that spreads by both rhizome and seed, sending tendrils up whatever it can reach. It needs soil kept reliably moist through the growing season, or shade if that moisture isn't available, and struggles wherever summers run hot, humid and dry. Where moisture holds, it feeds bees, gathers minerals as it grows, and can hold a bank on its own once established - but those climbing tendrils will pull down a young fruit tree, so give it a fence or a coppice stool instead.