no frost

it has been summer-like here of late and there was no frost at the campus garden when i arrived earlier this morning...

over in my bed the volunteer spuds are coming along despite the fact that one has been subsumed by the alfalfa...

subsumed in part because something seems to be finding the alfalfa a comfortable place to bed down...

this had not deterred the alfalfa from beginning to bloom...the bees will be pleased...

a single carolina horse nettle has popped up among its solanum cousins the spuds...i am inclined to leave it to compare solanum morphology ( should the spuds decide to bloom and bear fruits...i know the horse nettle will )...

since the weather has warmed it is time to expand populations so i turned some compost in on the west side of my bed and planted millet...in an effort to harvest some for willow the parakeet down the road...we will see if the wild birds allow this...there mat be bird tape later in summer...

that accomplished i moved over tot he asparagus...some is taller than i am and it is "ferning" out to feed the roots...harvest season is clrearly over...

the spears that are coming up now are pencil-thin or stunted...i would expect more harvestable spears when the weather cools in the autumn but for now it is time to let the asparagus pretty much alone...

asparagus is a deeply rooted and hardy plant with a quarter century life-span when cared for...however these have been neglected of late so i dressed the row with compost to help the heavy feeding plants along...i foreesee more in the coming months...

asparagus maintenance done, i moved to the back of the bed which i turned and worked with a hoe to break up clods and roots from "native growth"...i did not add compost though...

instead i took some cow pea seeds i had ben soaking in distilled water,drained them,tossed them into a container with some legume innoculant...shook the container around until they were coated, planted them , and dumped the rest of the innoculant into the bed...

then i soaked the rows with more distilled water...the reason for the dsitilled water is the innoculant contains dormant rhizobia bacteria and chlorinated water wouldn't do them any good...and i want them to flourish because in their presence the cow pea roots will develope nodes that secrete sugars the bacteria consume and as they consume the sugars they exude nitrogen as a waste product which feeds the cow peas...symbiosis ...and the bacteria creates more nitrogen than the cow peas can use so it "sets" in the soil improving its fertility...there may be naturally occuring rhizobia in the bed...but why take chances? the cow peas will be the greenest plants in the garden and they will be robust in taking over the bed...they are, however, far more shallowly rooted than the asparagus and will pose no threat there...we will be sure of that...so the season is expanding and one would presume more beds will be planted directly...more as it comes up.