rhizobia slurry

a day off so what did i do? went to the garden...i mixed up a slurry of rhizobia bacteria to inoculate the cowpeas for nitrogen fixation...the package said that the product was "safe"...it also suggested that prolonged skin contact or inhalation was to be avoided and suggested ppe of latex gloves, safety glasses, and a dust mask...of course i ignored this and went ahead and mixed the powder with some distilled water and let the seeds soak as i drove to campus...i only planted five to begin with since i have maize growing and the potatoes haven't been harvested yet...i think i will limit the cowpeas this season since they tend to take over and vine exuberantly...the third photo is of some shattered gamgrass seed heads i picked up off the ground...there are a lot of seeds this season and the seventy odd proaxes in the fourth photo attest to that...now i begin to understand why the grass is considered invasive...it grows more slowly than say the chinese yams but it invests every bit as much energy into reproduction...it has a reputation for being relentless and may become a handful yet...the last photo is one of the jerusalem artichoke blooms...half a dozen or so up and running...i wonder what this bodes in terms of tuber production...mine always bloomed earlier than the conventional sunchoke wisdom allowed but that didn't stop tuber production...harvest will be a bit earlier this season since i expect a change of direction this autumn so we will know in early september what to expect next time we see an early bloom