Thursday, July 10, 2014

When the Rain Starts, Real Gardening Begins - And I Sip Coffee

Supercell formation - picture source.
I had to hit the books - or rather - the Internet, for the way storms add nitrogen to the soil. The rain brings down fixed or usable nitrogen and lightning strikes also create fixed nitrogen. Secondarily, certain bacteria fix nitrogen in the soil, and they definitely like a cool drive to survive and thrive.

Precipitation creates heat, which drives the cloud higher, and that encourages more precipitation. The anvil shape forms when the cloud cannot go higher and stretches out at the top. Anvil clouds mean a big storm is underneath or soon to break loose.

Falling hail means the precipitation is so wild that the rain coming down keeps being swept up into the cloud again, forming larger and large hailstones. They are finally heavy enough to fall to the ground. The longer the upsweep continues, the worse the storm and the bigger the stones.


Wikpedia:
An example of the free-living bacteria is Azotobacter. Symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria such as Rhizobium usually live in the root nodules of legumes (such as peas, alfalfa, and locust trees). Here they form a mutualistic relationship with the plant, producing ammonia in exchange for carbohydrates. Because of this relationship, legumes will often increase the nitrogen content of nitrogen-poor soils.

I want to know how the plants figured out this swap between carbohydrates and fixed nitrogen. 

A day of rain is going to do far more for my gardens than anything I do. All I did was prepare the land to benefit from the rain. 
Mulching:

  1. Holds the rain and channels it gently down to the soil creatures.
  2. Feeds and shades the soil creatures, who till and fertilize the soil.
  3. Slows evaporation of the moisture.
  4. Prevents wind erosion of the best soil on top.
  5. Attracts birds with an abundance of insects and earthworms, so they devour the bad insects and grubs.
  6. Produces fixed nitrogen by absorbing nitrogen for decomposition and then releasing it slowly.

I also sowed with abundance, and that involved very little work. At one point I looked at the empty seed packets and thought, "Butterfly weed is planted already? I wonder where." And again, "All the bush beans are planted?"

This fact troubles me. In the past, most Christian groups once placed a priority on teaching the Word, even on knowing the Scriptures as an end in itself. For example, in the South, children compete in Bible Bowls for who can memorize the most verses, even entire books of the Bible. And they have traditionally taught faith in Christ.

In contrast, faith has little to do with most denominations today. The leaders are in love with entertainment, business methods, demographics, and statistics. Since they do not believe in the Word, they do not teach the Gospel. They teach narcissism to narcissists, who should have gotten their fix from Oprah or Tony Robbins. Clergy even want to be coaches or pay to be coached. One district president charges a $1300 annual fee to coach clergy.

If nothing is sown, there is no harvest at all.