Chapter 206: Post-Rain Measures
It has been raining for two days and today it has turned into drizzle. Judging from the speed at which the clouds in the sky are moving from north to south, the rain will probably stop tonight.
After a round, I found that the crops in the fields did not fall over. After all, they had been growing for more than a month and their roots were deeply rooted in the soil.
Crops in the vegetable garden were not so lucky.
The sweet potatoes and potatoes lying on the ground did not seem to be affected much, but the tomato, pepper and eggplant seedlings that had only been planted for a short time were not even ten centimeters tall, and several of them had already fallen to the ground.
Mu Xi went to the tool room to get a rope and broke off a few firewood sticks. Zhao Yeqing inserted the sticks next to the seedlings and tied the seedlings and the sticks together with a small hemp rope.
They pressed the soil under the seedlings a little more firmly with their hands, thinking that there should be no problem now, and then they went back into the house to wash their hands and cook.
But in the evening, a gust of wind mixed with moisture and heat blew from the south, colliding with the north wind that carried cumulus clouds.
The humidity increased and cumulus clouds began to gather overhead. The clouds were so thick that they seemed like they would fall to the ground at any moment from being too heavy.
After the two winds competed with each other, they gradually dissipated. The clouds overhead seemed to have finally found a breakthrough, and heavy rain poured down.
They were lucky in the previous earthquake as the epicenter was far away from them.
But the rainstorm now is not like that. The clouds seem to be gathered only within this 100-kilometer range. The heavy rain washes the meadow, and the streams that were already rising in water level are now showing a tendency to turn into small rivers.
The stream channel originally washed out by the stream could no longer hold so much water, and it gurgled outward to the meadows and woods.
The two of them had no choice but to go out wearing straw raincoats to drain the water.
Zhao Yeqing was cleaning the drainage ditch that was blocked by grass roots and mud when he suddenly felt the bamboo hat on his head being hit by a stone, making a "click" sound.
She subconsciously reached out and touched the hat, and felt a cold, hard object from the edge of the hat.
It's hail.
Mu Xi was obviously hit as well, and he looked up at the sky with his eyes slightly narrowed.
"It's probably caused by the collision of cold and warm winds. Now that the wind has died down, this hailstorm shouldn't last long, and it shouldn't be as big as the hailstorm in Meishan before."
The two men cleared and widened the clogged drainage ditch, and dug another drainage ditch leading into the woods.
There was a low point, and in addition to the water in the fields, the water in the grass also rushed into the drainage ditch.
Zhao Yeqing went home holding the hailstones the size of peanuts, and leaned against the window in a daze, feeling the hailstones gradually getting smaller in his hands until they melted.
All they could do now was wait for the rain to stop.
Just like last year’s heavy rain, snow in winter, and high temperatures of over 40 degrees, there is no other way but to wait.
The sleet and hail lasted only one night before stopping, but the heavy rain continued.
The big raindrops knocked the beautiful rhododendrons in the yard to the ground. It was a week later when the rain stopped.
The originally bright flowers have been crushed into the soil.
Zhao Yeqing breathed a sigh of relief as soon as he opened the door. Fortunately, the south wind did not continue to blow. The air outside was moist and cool, not damp and sticky like the south wind.
The cumulus clouds in the sky have dispersed, and the long-lost sunshine is shining on the meadow, accompanied by a rainbow that is just around the corner.
One end of the rainbow fell on the top of a distant mountain, and the other end fell between home and the pasture.
Zhao Yeqing was pleasantly surprised, "Mu Xi, come and see!"
She opened the door as wide as possible, and fresh air poured into the room. Besides Mu Xi, several dogs who had been cooped up at home for several days were also attracted by her voice.
"Woof woof woof!" barking, he ran out of the house excitedly.
Mu Xi walked out and saw the rainbow that was almost within reach, and the scene brought a smile to his face.
The two men quickly fed the livestock and went out to check on the fields.
After several days of heavy rain, the meadow was washed away and the grassland vegetation, which was originally only about ten centimeters high, seemed to have been activated and now grew to twice its height.
Weeds grew between the crops in the fields, and the barnyard grass in the rice fields grew taller than the rice seedlings.
In addition to the rampant growth of weeds, the most feared thing after the rain is waterlogging and root damage, as well as mildew caused by moisture.
The two men spent the entire morning bending over the field weeding. Only after they were done weeding did the land reveal its original appearance.
The dark yellow soil, without the cover of weeds, has to be dried in the sun until the moisture evaporates.
After lunch, we have to apply fertilizer to the fields.
Fields that are washed by rain for a long time will experience nutrient loss, and they must be supplemented with fertilizers in time after the rain.
Zhao Yeqing sighed helplessly. She had just applied fertilizer ten days ago, but the heavy rain had washed away all the fertilizer.
I could only obediently take the manure and spread it again.
Manure is an organic fertilizer. Even if too much is spread, it will not burn the roots. The carbon element in it can also prevent the formation of empty shells when the wheat is filling later.
But it is best to add some triple fertilizer, namely nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
Since the weather started to get hot, Zhao Yeqing has been storing kitchen waste to ferment nitrogen fertilizer. Phosphorus fertilizer needs to be supplemented with egg shells and the like, but there are too many fields at home, so egg shells are definitely not enough.
The bones of chickens, cattle, sheep, wolves and bears that we eat at home are not thrown away. They are all dried, crushed and ground into powder and sprinkled on the ground as phosphorus fertilizer, which can also supplement calcium.
Animal bones, especially those of wild animals, are relatively hard, and it takes a lot of effort to dry them, crush them, and grind them into powder.
While Mu Xi was grinding the bones, Zhao Yeqing sprinkled a light layer of wood ash on the ground, which was considered potassium fertilizer.
Don’t use too much wood ash, as it can easily burn the roots.
The condition of the crops in the field was better than expected, especially the wheat. After absorbing enough water, it not only did not fall over, but instead grew several centimeters upwards.
Except for some leafy seedlings that were killed by raindrops just after they grew out, the other vegetables in the vegetable garden seemed to be in good condition. Their stems straightened up when exposed to the sun, and their wilted leaves also regained some vitality.
The fruit and vegetable seedlings that Zhao Yeqing was most worried about turned out to be fine.
After initially securing it with a stick, no further action was taken.
I originally thought that since the seedlings had just been raised, it didn’t matter if they died. At worst I could just plant them again when the rain stopped.
But unexpectedly, not only did they survive, but their roots and rhizomes grew even thicker than last year's.
No wonder when I was growing vegetables on the balcony, I saw many books teaching how to shake the roots of the plants with your hands when you have nothing to do, to imitate the situation of the plants being blown by wind and rain in the wild, which would make the plants grow strong and take root.
Zhao Yeqing looked at the crops that were growing tenaciously, and felt very complicated when he thought about the vegetables he had planted on the balcony in the past, which grew in a mess despite careful care and looked like they were ready to die at any time.
Instantly, she seemed to have guessed the inner thoughts of these seedlings——
Vegetable seedlings planted in the mountains: I am tenacious and grow tenaciously, and I am not afraid of wind or rain!
Vegetable seedlings planted on the balcony: Ah, I don’t like drinking tap water, so I’ll die first.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
