green manures

i got to the garden about six thirty this morning and if i was sodden yesterday my timing today was just about perfect and i will explain that in a second here...i took the packet of rhizobia bacteria inoculant and put a teaspoon of the powder in a container...i added a half cup of distilled water ( and this is why the timing was so good...i used distilled water because chlorinated water has an adverse effect on the bacteria...it rained well yesterday so the ground is moist enough that i did not have to water the bed to aid germination after i planted today...the water from the garden hose is chlorinated...as it stands now, the bacteria have time to expand their population before i water with chlorinated water so they will still be effective )put my mix of seeds in and mixed thoroughly...i broadcast the seed over the prepared half of the bed and covered them to about half an inch...now we wait...if this works correctly the green manures and bacteria will produce more nitrogen than the plants can use...they will be nice and green and the winter rye and hairy vetch will overwinter as reservoirs...when they resume growth in the spring we can mow and turn them under enriching the soil...i don't think we will add compost to that bed next spring, relying on the green manures to fertilize the soil and see what that does for the bed's production ( whatever is there next season...it won't be potatoes so it will not be an exact comparison ) more as these come up and some photos of nodules on cowpea roots from last season to show what we will look for on the roots of the annuals in this mix as they die back...just to see if we did it right