Chapter 158 Sugarcane Potatoes
With the experience of planting sugarcane last year, everyone was really familiar with the process this year. There was basically no need to ask how to dig ditches or apply base fertilizer.
All the sugarcane stalks are stored in the sugar-making workshop, where there is a pool for soaking the sugarcane stalks. After soaking, they are transported to the fields by ox carts and can be planted directly.
At the beginning, the managers were a little confused and couldn't help but get involved in things that were not their business. After two days, they became familiar with the situation.
Zhao Liya went to Bajiaozhai in person to plant potatoes.
The vegetable garden at home has been fully planted, with some left unplanted. With Widow Qu, Mrs. Deng, and Aunt Li Shiyi, it is enough. Shu Yan is eager to try and go with Zhao Liya.
People are afraid of comparison. Shu Yan didn’t think much of it before, but now Zhao Liya and Qu Yutao are busy with their own careers, so of course she would be envious and want to join them.
Zhao Liya welcomed this very much and took Lin Mo away with her.
Lin Mo was eager to accompany his wife, so he readily agreed. He was a very principled hunter and would not go hunting in the mountains in spring. He would usually start going into the mountains after May.
In spring, the only option is to hunt the wild boars that destroy the crops.
Things in Bajiaozhai were not so easy at the beginning. Everyone was obedient, but they were too excited, so it was inevitable that things became a little chaotic and disorganized.
Fortunately, several managers of varying sizes had been identified in advance, and Zhao Liya mostly gave them instructions, asking them to run errands, pass on messages, and manage people.
After a lot of arguing and struggling, we finally got things back on track.
Large-scale potato planting is different from simply planting a few potatoes wherever there are holes in the fields or vegetable gardens. First, the land must be prepared like sugarcane planting, forming rows and ridges, and then digging trenches.
The depth of the trench is about 20 centimeters. Apply a thin layer of farmyard manure at the bottom, cover it with a layer of wood ash, and then cover it with a thin layer of soil.
In this way, the land is considered ready.
As for farmyard manure, Zhao Liya had predicted last year that the amount needed this year would be very large, and she had already spread the word about buying it. She accepted all offers and took as much as she could. Now there are several large piles of it fermenting in this large piece of reclaimed land.
This is easy. Simply add grass to the pigsty or cattle pen regularly. For example, in the past, you'd only add grass every five or six days, or even six or seven days, but later, you'd only add it every three days. The pigs and cattle trample on it, and the mixture of feces and urine naturally ferments the grass or dry straw. Layer by layer, the more it accumulates, the better it ferments. When it's almost ready, you dig it out and carry it to the edge of the field.
Although the farm manure purchased by Zhao Liya and others is not enough, it is impossible to use it all. We can just use as much as we can and be a little frugal. We can guarantee that we can use half of it for the sugarcane and potatoes.
Zhao Liya even started thinking about setting up a pig farm and raising a hundred or so pigs. Having her own pigpen would also help her with composting.
When the pigs grow up, we can not only slaughter them and distribute the meat as a welfare benefit, but also sell them to make some money.
Raising pigs is actually quite easy. I planted so many sweet potatoes that I had plenty of vines to feed them. I also bought rice bran from the grain store and some corn, ground it into flour, and mixed it with the rice bran. This made excellent pig feed.
When the sweet potato harvest is good, we can even leave some to feed the pigs.
Sweet potatoes have a high yield and are cost-effective for feeding pigs.
There is no farmyard manure, but wood ash is easy to obtain.
Go up the mountain and cut the weeds in bundles, then set them on fire.
While preparing the land, he also selected forty people to go up the mountain to cut grass.
Two days later, fifty or sixty acres of land had been prepared. Zhao Liya asked Lin Mo and Shu Yan to help in the field and still watch everyone prepare the land and burn the ash. She brought forty aunts, sisters-in-law, and girls to process the potato seeds.
Every potato is precious and needs to be cut and processed.
Zhao Liya briefly explained how to cut potatoes and how to keep the eyes intact. After cutting, the cut surfaces should be rolled in wood ash to prevent rot and speed up healing.
Baskets of sliced potatoes coated with wood ash are placed in a cool, humid place. They will sprout in a few days.
After germination, it can be planted.
Planting also requires careful attention. Zhao Liya patiently demonstrated and repeatedly checked that the potatoes should be placed with the buds facing upwards, and the spacing between the plants should be similar. After planting, lightly cover with a thin layer of soil, less than two centimeters thick. After five or six days, when the seedlings have grown and are about half the height of a chopstick, they are then topped with soil.
All these trivial matters were unheard of and unfamiliar to the villagers. They had to be told and reminded over and over again, and it would take at least two or three days for them to gradually get used to them.
Fortunately, Shu Yan and Lin Mo helped share the burden, otherwise Zhao Liya would be even more exhausted.
Fortunately, everything went well.
In the end, 1,000 mu of sugarcane and 700 mu of potatoes were planted, and about 100 mu of wasteland were temporarily reclaimed to make up the land.
Next, there will be another round of land reclamation.
By now the fields for spring plowing had been prepared, and we were just waiting for the seedlings to grow before we could plant them. Everyone had time to do other things.
There was no rush to reclaim the wasteland, so Zhao Liya told Zaihu Village to take their time.
In Bajiaozhai, while clearing the land, they buried the sweet potatoes and watered them to allow the sweet potato vines to grow.
Once the sweet potato vines have grown, they can be transplanted and propagated. Planting them for two consecutive months will not miss the season.
The wasteland on the Yancun side also needs to be reclaimed.
But there are only a few people in the village, and everyone is busy with their own work, so how can they have time to reclaim the wasteland? I would like to do it, but I am too busy!
Some were so anxious that they even went to the Zhao family to reassure Zhao Liya and the others, saying that they would definitely go and reclaim the wasteland, so they must keep the wasteland.
Zhao Liya was both amused and annoyed, and nodded in agreement, "Don't worry, the land on the edge of our village will of course be reclaimed by our villagers! It's all reserved for everyone! Let's do it after everyone finishes this busy period."
She wasn't in a rush to reclaim these wastelands anyway; she could do it anytime. Sweet potatoes were easy to grow; even if she started planting them in early June, they would still grow without delay.
After hearing Zhao Liya's explanation, everyone felt relieved.
At this time, Zhao Liya had already hired Uncle Ruan Gui and others to build a large courtyard in the school area.
The large courtyard covers an area of about ten acres and will be separated from the school by a small bamboo forest, a small garden, and a small fruit forest, and they will not affect each other.
When Uncle Ruan Gui and his men were building their house and yard, the fruit tree seedlings and bamboos that Zheng and his wife from Zaihu Village had helped to collect were delivered to them one after another.
Zhao Liya and her family went together to dig holes and plant trees.
(End of this chapter)
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