Sunday, June 22, 2014

new zealnd white clover

yesterday's heavy rainfall made today a tailor made day to plant some new zealand white clover...i mixed a batch of rhizobia bacteria innocualnt and then dug a few shallow trenches in two beds ( three sisters' and the cucumber bed )...i then liberally sowed seed ( third photo ) in the trenches ( fourth photo..even if it's difficult to see )...poured the innoculant mixture over the seeds and closed the trenches...i used distilled water for the innoculant because chlorine in tap water will kill the bacteria in the innoculant...since the soil is already moist and i poured more water on the seeds with the innoculant the seeds should be able to germinate before we have to water..this will allow a large enough rhizobia colony to form so that it can survive watering with chlorinated water and continue to fix nitrogen in the soil...this clover is a perennial and so should return each year...we can continue to plant vegetables between the rows of clover and the plants can benefit form the clover's nitrogen fixing symbiosis with the rhizobia indefinitely...sustainable fertilizer with no runoff...neat.

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