Chapter 483 Cotton

The wisteria flowers in the backyard also gradually grew from bare to small leaves, and along with the small leaves also grew clusters of wisteria buds.

The weeds in the corner quietly sprouted new buds, and even the citrus trees turned into dark green and light green.

The desolation in the backyard faded away, and when Zhao Yeqing transplanted all the vegetable seedlings into the greenhouse in the yard, everywhere you looked, you could see vitality everywhere.

The plastic film that originally covered the banana trees and dragon fruit was also removed. Zhao Yeqing originally thought that he could eat dragon fruit this year, but the trees did not look like they could bear fruit. A winter has passed, and the stems and leaves have not seen any swelling. It must take another year to grow again.

The sun was out today, and she was wearing a thin base layer and a silk cotton jacket on the outside. She was so hot that she was sweating all over her head.

After finally transplanting the seedlings, sowing the seeds of leafy vegetables on the ground, and tidying up the backyard, I went back to the bathroom, took a quick shower, changed clothes, and came out, only to see Mu Xi coming in from outside the yard, sweating profusely.

He was going to plow the soil. This year, all the seeds had been taken out and dried. After plowing the soil in the next two days, he could start sowing the seeds.

Before Zhao Yeqing asked, he answered Zhao Yeqing's question first: "It's basically done. Just add some fertilizer to the land in the afternoon... This tool can turn the soil quickly, but it makes my hands numb."

He rubbed his arms, which were thicker than Zhao Yeqing's calves. Zhao Yeqing asked him to sit down, and used all his strength with both hands to loosen up his tense muscles.

After she finished kneading him, it was Mu Xi's turn to knead her little hands.

The wild grass on the meadow had not yet grown, and the family's cattle and sheep were all kept in the barn for feeding, so the dogs naturally did not go out.

Xiao Hei stayed in the yard basking in the sun. He yawned and looked at the two people in front of him rubbing each other. Then he simply turned his head, closed his eyes and went to sleep.

After the weather warms up, the family's large flock of ducks and two geese can be put into the pond to play for a while.

Why two geese? Before winter came, one of them suddenly flapped its wings and flew away. Geese are loyal animals and naturally would not allow three geese to be squeezed into a love story, so one of them became depressed.

During the Chinese New Year, Mu Xi couldn't bear to see it go on like that, so he cooked it into a stewed goose in an iron pot. He also stuck a few golden corn cakes on the edge of the pot. The cakes were fried until golden and crispy, and then dipped in the soup of the stewed goose. It was so delicious that Zhao Yeqing ate three of them in a row.

The remaining two geese... should be called big geese. This time Zhao Yeqing carefully checked their wings. He had been too gentle with them before, so that one of them did not lose the ability to fly. Before winter, the geese flew south, and this one saw a large group in the sky, so it followed them.

Only after making sure that the remaining two would not encounter such accidents again did Zhao Yeqing put them into the pond.

She doesn’t know whether the fish will lay eggs after this spring. If not, she plans to go to the lake and catch two more.

During this period, the fish tanks in the fish pond have laid eggs, but the eggs have not yet hatched, so the ducks and geese don't have to worry about eating all the fish fry when they take a bath in the fish pond.

They cannot be put into the lotus pond as most of the water has been drained. I just threw the ground seeds back in some time ago and will fill the pond with water when they grow a little bigger.

Mu Xi took care of several large plots of land including the vegetable garden. At dawn the next day, Zhao Yeqing threw the grown sweet potato vines into the ground and buried them. These must be planted every year. They are essential feed for pigs and are simple, easy to grow and have a high yield.

But this time they were not planted in the vegetable garden. Planting the same crop in one place for a long time would lead to serious nutrient deficiency in the soil. So Zhao Yeqing planted sweet potatoes in the grain field and changed to red and green beans in the vegetable garden.

Red and green beans are only used when making desserts. You don't need a lot. A vegetable garden is enough to grow these two kinds of beans.

This is not the case with soybeans, sesame seeds and peanuts, which need to be pressed for oil. If too few are planted, not much oil can be extracted.

For example, the grain field outside the two of them is basically about half an acre per piece. According to the soybean yield of about 300 kilograms per acre in previous years, half an acre is about 150 kilograms. Leaving some soybeans for daily consumption, they can produce 30 kilograms of soybean oil.

According to the ratio, you can get about 70 to 80 kilograms of soybean meal. Although soybean meal is the remaining product after oil extraction, it is a good thing. It can be used as fertilizer after decomposition, and it can also be fed to livestock at home. Eating it will help livestock grow meat faster and their fur color will improve.

Especially for livestock after giving birth, the cow had no soybean meal to eat during this giving birth. Zhao Yeqing felt sorry for it, so he said before the Chinese New Year that he must plant soybeans this year, and the soybean meal produced would be fed to this great hero in the family first.

Soybean seeds are easy to preserve and not many of them will go bad if they are not often taken out to dry in the sun. Zhao Yeqing threw the ones that floated on the water to the chickens to eat, and after soaking the rest for a while, he took them to the fields and scattered them.

Zhao Yeqing sowed soybeans and Mu Xi sowed sesame seeds. It only took a whole morning to sow, cover the soil and water the two plots of land.

After planting these two crops in the morning, I have to plant cotton in the afternoon.

Cotton is also sown in the field. When Zhao Yeqing was planting soybeans in the morning, he was too lazy to use a seeder. Since he had some experience in planting seeds, he just threw the seeds directly into the pit, and he hit the target every time.

It was Mu Xi’s first time planting cotton, and he was afraid that he might not be able to get it right, so he used a seed drill and placed two or three seeds in one hole.

Zhao Yeqing had planted a few plants before, but they didn't grow very well. The cotton bolls became diseased later on. She could only peel out the seeds from the few plants that were still intact, but the cotton bolls of those plants grew averagely, and she didn't know if it would affect the yield of the seeds she would grow later.

The original intention was to save seeds, but I didn't expect it to be very successful.

But they can't just ignore it. Zhao Yeqing takes out the old seeds every year to save them. Cotton is a common visitor every year. The germination rate of the old seeds becomes low in the fourth year, and that time happens to be an extremely cold period.

Later, when the weather improved, I took it out and planted it again, but it still didn't grow well.

Zhao Yeqing also knew the reason. First, he had not originally focused on the crops to be saved for seeds as there were too many things to take care of. Second, this thing was really difficult to grow and was particularly susceptible to diseases and pests. All kinds of insects would come and eat it.

It's really hard to guard against.

After learning from Zhao Yeqing's experience, Mu Xi first treated the land with limestone, then got a truckload of sandy loam to improve the soil quality before sowing the seeds.

While Mu Xi was sowing seeds, Zhao Yeqing was transplanting passion fruit seedlings in the field next door.

The original support was just enough to plant all the passion fruit seedlings, and she moved the remaining two to the yard as usual.

After finishing the spring sowing at home, the two were finally able to rest for some time and slept until ten o'clock in the morning.

They were still dreaming when they were suddenly awakened by a loud roar...