Sugar Snap Peas, Day 42

A shady garden and failure to inoculate seeds with helper bacteria, a good crop of peas do not make.
It's the first attempt at growing peas on the grange, but it seems that the unexpected shade and failure to inoculate the peas with rhizobia bacteria have harmed flower production. As a "nitrogen-fixer," a pea plant supplies its own nitrogen by plucking it out of the air with the help of rhizobia bacteria. According to some studies, pea inoculant boosts crop yield by over 75%. Never will the words, "rhizobia's for suckers," cross my lips, at least not in the backyard.

It's been said that knowing is half the battle, so next year bodes well for peas.

Sources: Oregon State, U. Idaho, You Grow Girl