Didn't feel well this morning. There was a lot of smoke around during the night, that's probably why. I guess they burn trash at night to avoid being cited for burning without a permit, but that's only a guess on my part. It's a particularly bad time to burn trash, because the smoke is trapped near the ground by a thermal inversion and can't rise like it does during the daylight hours. But then it's a living nightmare for people like me who have respiratory problems.
But after I managed to get myself moving, I did manage to do some work outside...pulled some weeds and mixed more soil for the planting bed. The bed is starting to rise up now as I keep adding amended soil back into it. When I've used up all the soil that I removed from the bed, I'll rake the bed smooth, plant seeds, and lay wood chips everywhere but down the middle where the seeds are planted.
My well water has lime in it, so allowing the sun to dry the surface of the soil and constantly wetting it with the hose is not a good way to do things. That causes even more lime buildup in the soil, which is exactly the opposite of what I'm trying to do. I want to lower the pH, not raise it. I've tested that soil out there and, without amendment, it runs close to 8.0. It's hard to grow much in that...especially if it's hot, sunbaked sand with almost no humus.
Tropical and subtropical soils can be like that. The torrential rains of the rainy season leach out all the soluble minerals like nitrate and potassium, and the high temps cause very rapid oxidation of the organic matter. Add to that the local custom of burning the land periodically to keep it clear of brush, and you have a recipe for barren soil.
If the land is allowed to revert to forest, the organic matter builds up. But that can take a very long time. I'm short-circuiting the process and putting it into high gear by making literally tons of compost from brush clearing and control of invasive exotic vegetation. The most important crop I grow is soil.
I've settled on blackeyed peas as the crop to plant in that bed I'm working on. They can produce an impressive quantity of food, they're high in protein, and I happen to like them. If I grow too much to eat fresh, all I have to do is let them form dried seeds inside the pods, and I'll have something I can harvest and store for future use. I have seed for a variety called Ologwe that's grown widely throughout Nigeria. I'm trying to grow food, not challenge myself...so I like to plant crops that are tough, reliable, and heavy producers. I hope I like the taste, because I have a feeling that there will be a lot of them.
I'm still picking string beans, I'll have some of those for supper tonight. Since I'm growing a variety that's popular in warmer climates, I'm confident that I'll get enough to make a lot of tasty stir fries. I have them growing in a 57 cm nursery pot and they seem to be doing well. They're what's generally known as pole beans. You don't see those in the markets anymore, but I remember seeing bins piled high with them in my younger years. They were very inexpensive in those days...what you might call "dirt cheap". I don't think any vegetable is "dirt cheap" anymore. I've seen common green bell peppers selling in supermarkets in recent years for four bucks a pound. I'd better not start talking about the "good old days". Nobody wants to hear about that anymore.
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