Pea Growing, 2022

[jbosmith]

Only once, when I lived in San Diego. I grew it over winter, mixed with oats, and turned it under when it flowered. My main reason for doing so was for the organic matter, since the soil in that garden was basically hard desert clay. I had access to composted horse manure for nitrogen, which was turned under along with the cover crop. It took a couple years to turn that hard clay into good workable soil.

Re: nitrogen fixation. At present I don't really appear to have a problem with nodulation of legumes, so the organisms must survive in the soil between seasons. Soybean nodulation is especially strong, so those bacteria must be very persistent. Phaseolus beans are healthy, but on the rare occasion when I uproot one, they generally have few nodules. Vignas are the only legume which seems to benefit from inoculation here, so that bacteria must not be as cold hardy.

While the conventional wisdom is that each legume species requires its own specific nitrogen fixing bacterial species, I strongly suspect that at least some of those bacteria are able to adapt to multiple legumes. My evidence of this is what I observed after 2 years of the rural garden being fallow, with only clover available as a host plant. When I planted the garden after that period, with no inoculant on any legume, I examined one plant of every species... nearly all were well nodulated. That was especially noteworthy with beans, which were noticeably more heavily nodulated than usual.

The exception, again, was cowpeas... which under-performed that year. Although I observed some nodulation in 2021, they under-performed in the rural garden again... so I will return to using that inoculant on all Vignas.

I don't remember why I think this but isn't it the color of the nodules that change with nitrogen fixation and not the presence? Like green might mean low fixation and bright red means high? Also, I've heard that the 'blood' in Impossible burgers is the same as that red stuff but I don't know how true that is

 

[flowerbug]

I don't remember why I think this but isn't it the color of the nodules that change with nitrogen fixation and not the presence? Like green might mean low fixation and bright red means high? Also, I've heard that the 'blood' in Impossible burgers is the same as that red stuff but I don't know how true that is

considering the strange stuff they are doing with bacteria and fungi and growing the desired compounds they managed to come up with heme grown in a yeast. and last night i was reading something about a new milk that isn't from a cow but coming from bacteria or yeasts (not sure would have to go back and find it again). both of these might be better for nature in some ways so i'll be interested in what happens from them. life is interesting.

 

[Zeedman]

I don't remember why I think this but isn't it the color of the nodules that change with nitrogen fixation and not the presence? Like green might mean low fixation and bright red means high? Also, I've heard that the 'blood' in Impossible burgers is the same as that red stuff but I don't know how true that is

According to sources I've read, healthy nodules should be white on the outside, pink (or red) if cut open. Those I've checked have always been smooth & white. Funny, but as often as I've checked for nodule development, I never thought to cut one open. It looks like something to try this year.

I think that with some of the new techno-foods, I may be better off not knowing how they are produced. One of the main benefits of growing your own vegetables is that you know what is & is NOT in your food. Soylent green? No thank you. I'm not a luddite, but prefer technology to be something located outside of my body.

 

[flowerbug]

According to sources I've read, healthy nodules should be white on the outside, pink (or red) if cut open. Those I've checked have always been smooth & white. Funny, but as often as I've checked for nodule development, I never thought to cut one open. It looks like something to try this year.

are you sure this is noticeable when the plant is dead vs. alive? i'm thinking you might only see the color when the plant is alive and the nodules are actively fixing nitrogen. i'm trying to verify this but not having much luck at the moment.

I think that with some of the new techno-foods, I may be better off not knowing how they are produced. One of the main benefits of growing your own vegetables is that you know what is & is NOT in your food. Soylent green? No thank you. I'm not a luddite, but prefer technology to be something located outside of my body.

i like to know what i'm eating and someday might have to cope with such things and also interested in them because if they are actually nutritionally similar enough or even better but can reduce the amount of destruction that humans do to the world for agriculture then i'm hoping it can help. i'll always be partial to growing plants (and beans of course ), but it is still good to know if this kind of thing can be viable and also possibly very useful for space exploration or supporting space colonies.

 

[Zeedman]

are you sure this is noticeable when the plant is dead vs. alive? i'm thinking you might only see the color when the plant is alive and the nodules are actively fixing nitrogen. i'm trying to verify this but not having much luck at the moment.

Yes, that appearance is only when the plant is alive, and the nodules are healthy. On the occasions when I've pulled a dead or dying plant, most of the nodules are darker & fall off.

 

[jbosmith]

According to sources I've read, healthy nodules should be white on the outside, pink (or red) if cut open. Those I've checked have always been smooth & white. Funny, but as often as I've checked for nodule development, I never thought to cut one open. It looks like something to try this year

I checked once after reading something similar and the one I cut open was pretty red but I couldn't tell you anything now about what growth stage the plant was in and I haven't thought to check since.

I think that with some of the new techno-foods, I may be better off not knowing how they are produced. One of the main benefits of growing your own vegetables is that you know what is & is NOT in your food. Soylent green? No thank you. I'm not a luddite, but prefer technology to be something located outside of my body.

There's definitely a large gap between "Hey look what they did" and "yeah I'd eat that". I did try Soylent recently because the name amused me and it wasn't bad! It's not going to replace my coffee, but if someone had to choose between one of those shakes and fast food it'd be an ok option. PLUS it says it's vegan now so I think they've changed the recipe

 

[flowerbug]

i didn't even know they had a Soylent product out now. i really don't do much wandering when i shop. i go for the items on my list and that's it. i don't need to see all the other temptations they've got on those shelves.

 

[jbosmith]

i didn't even know they had a Soylent product out now. i really don't do much wandering when i shop. i go for the items on my list and that's it. i don't need to see all the other temptations they've got on those shelves.

Agreed. I rarely go into the middle aisles of a grocery store unless it's for vinegar to make pickles, or some baking product. I am addicted to some locally made Nepali dumplings, and their wonderful hot sauce, but they're in the pre-made aisle on the edge of the store, so they don't count ;-)

My interest in things like Soylent is in finding shelf stable foods that can ride around in a car with me on the days when I'm driving loops around New England for work, and go hours without seeing a food source beyond a gas station. It's less of a problem this time of year since the car is essentially a fridge, but I don't like bringing home-made food with me on hot summer days unless it's canned.

 

[flowerbug]

Agreed. I rarely go into the middle aisles of a grocery store unless it's for vinegar to make pickles, or some baking product. I am addicted to some locally made Nepali dumplings, and their wonderful hot sauce, but they're in the pre-made aisle on the edge of the store, so they don't count ;-)

there's a lot of things that i'd like to not count but alas those calories are not ghost calories.

My interest in things like Soylent is in finding shelf stable foods that can ride around in a car with me on the days when I'm driving loops around New England for work, and go hours without seeing a food source beyond a gas station. It's less of a problem this time of year since the car is essentially a fridge, but I don't like bringing home-made food with me on hot summer days unless it's canned.

i have a small cooler and ice packs for such outings.

 

[Zeedman]

i didn't even know they had a Soylent product out now. i really don't do much wandering when i shop. i go for the items on my list and that's it. i don't need to see all the other temptations they've got on those shelves.

I didn't know that was a real product either, so I looked it up. And yes, they actually make a Soylent Green! Either gutsy, or a PR attempt, given what that meant in the movie. Life follows art.