1) Snow Peas:
- 'Dwarf Gray Sugar"
- 'Oregon Giant'
- 'Avon Hybrid'
23 March 2011
More Seeds Planted + We Need Some Ideas
Kate, Ashley, Debbie, and I went over to the garden on Tuesday to work on some of the March chores. We cleaned up some of the trash that had accumulated in the garden, mulched the garlic and started peas and spinach. Here are the cultivars, in case you're interested in looking them up:
1) Snow Peas:
1) Snow Peas:
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It was coooold yesterday, but despite the weather, Kanani, Debbie, Kate and I got a lot done! The highlight of my day was that Kanani brought along legume inoculent to use with the peas. I have never used an inoculant so I was happy to learn something new! For any of you interested, here is how it works.
ReplyDeletePeas, as you might know, are part of the legume family. Like all legumes they are great nitrogen fixers because of their symbiotic relationship with a soil bacterium called Rhizobium. Rhizobium lives in the soil but will take shelter in specially produced nodules on the roots of legumes. Interestingly enough Rhizobium only produces nitrogen when it finds a plant host.
Because of their relationship with Rhizobium, peas produce their own fertilizer and do not need additional nitrogen inputs to encourage their growth. Yes, if you just thought "this is awesome," you would be correct. Also, after the crop is harvested and the plant is cut back, the root nodules should release all the valuable fixed nitrogen into the soil, ready for use for whatever is planted next... Yet another level of awsomeness.
So, to encourage the production of the nodules that host Rhizobium and to increase the production of nitrogen, many gardeners will use a legume inoculent which contains the Rhizobium bacteria. An inoculent such as N-dure can be purchased through many garden stores or through Fedco. It is applied by soaking the pea seeds in water and then coating the wet seeds with the inoculant until covered. Then, sow those suckers! The use of an inoculent should increase the vigor of peas and increase fruit production. Pretty cool.
We have chard, spinach, and lettuce up! The lights have been installed!
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