Chapter 240 Basement Drawings
Vegetables are usually grown indoors, either in pots or hydroponically.
It’s okay to grow green leafy vegetables hydroponically, but it’s not easy to grow tomatoes, peppers, etc.
Planting pots have many disadvantages. Drainage problems and limited soil mean that no matter how carefully you care for the vegetables, they are not as nutritious as vegetables planted in the ground.
If a vegetable cultivation room can be built underground, not only can the advantages of ground-grown vegetables be maintained, but direct high temperatures can also be avoided.
The sun is shining brightly right now, and the amount of electricity we get each day is enough to power grow lights, refrigerators, and lights at home.
Lighting, support and planting can all be controlled manually by two people. The only difficult problem to solve is water seepage.
There is already abundant water underground in the meadow, and the most troublesome issue is the site selection. The two have almost no experience in this area.
To find water sources in the mountains, one can look for them based on the growth of vegetation on the ground, but finding groundwater is not so easy, and the two of them don't have much time left.
The temperature is rising every day, and it takes time to dig a basement and also to do the construction work, so we don’t have much time.
The two of them could only work overtime to look through the books and notes of the original owner at home to see if there was any knowledge that could be used.
On the straw mat on the floor of the room, there were all kinds of books and notes in front of the two men, but they still found nothing.
"I have searched all over, but I haven't seen any relevant records."
Zhao Yeqing lay on the ground, rubbing his Jingming acupoint with both hands and doing eye exercises.
After reading so many books, her eyes were sore and swollen, especially some professional books on planting and breeding. She knew every word in the books, but she just couldn't understand them when they were put together.
Mu Xi did not find any useful information either. He put down the book in his hand, fanned Zhao Yeqing with his other hand, and said:
"If all else fails, let's just dig. Didn't the original owner also dig a small cellar? Maybe this is the location he explored before. Let's just dig next to it."
"But there is still a well. How do you explain this?"
Mu Xi, "This cellar is on the right, and the well is in the middle and slightly to the left. We can dig another one to the right of this cellar and a little further away from the well. Maybe we will find the right one."
Although I don't know why the cellar was dug in the backyard, which is obviously not far from the well, there seems to be no other way except to dig next to the original owner's cellar.
Zhao Yeqing could only comfort himself that sometimes the elderly must have their reasons for doing this.
She nodded, "Then dig."
At worst, if you find water seepage after digging it up, you can fill it back up.
The basement cannot be built in the yard as the yard is not big enough, so the entrance to the basement can only be built in the yard, and the basement is outside the yard.
The two men drew the blueprint. The entrance was at the back of the small brick house. A square hole was opened from the entrance, and a slanted downward staircase was built to extend to the outside of the yard.
The size of the basement is planned according to the illumination range of the planting lights, which is about 15 square meters. The surrounding walls are filled with red bricks and stainless steel pipes are used as supports on all sides.
The two discussed for a while and decided that the supports should be made of wood, and the stainless steel pipes should be saved for now to avoid being used later.
Zhao Yeqing thought carefully about the pros and cons and said:
"If underground planting is still carried out in the ground, there is another problem that is more troublesome, that is, the soil is not exposed to sunlight and it is easy to stay in a wet state for a long time, causing the roots of the plants to rot. After all, planting lights can only provide light, not dry the soil."
She re-planned the basement frame structure on paper.
"I thought that after using stainless steel pipes to build the surrounding area, I would seal the top with a PC board. Stainless steel pipes are more manipulable, so I could make a tight slot for the board to fit inside, and make it movable so it can be taken down at any time."
Mu Xi looked at the drawings that were gradually taking shape under her hands, and understood, "You mean, use a translucent board to cover the roof, and when it's not so hot, you can take the board down and let the sun shine in for a while, just like a mushroom house."
"That's right." Zhao Yeqing continued.
"This gives us more control. When it's not too hot, we can open the panels to let the plants receive natural light. When it's hot, such as when it rains, we can cover the panels to let the plants receive light through them. When it rains, the solar panels supply less power, so this way we can reduce the burden on electricity by providing sunlight through them."
"Then the temperature underground will become higher, right?"
"You can cover it with soil." She brought in the PC board and tapped it with her hand. "Although the load-bearing capacity of this board is average, it can still cover five centimeters of pure soil. With a layer of covering soil, the maximum temperature underground will not exceed 30 degrees."
After listening to this, Mu Xi unconsciously put his palm on Zhao Yeqing's head and rubbed it, "How come you are so powerful?"
Zhao Yeqing stuffed the blueprint into his arms and said, "Then I'll leave it to you."
Mu Xi took the blueprint but did not agree. Instead, he put it down, picked up the pen and said:
"The pillars don't need to be made of stainless steel. Use wooden pillars for the bottom support, and just clip the steel pipes on top into them. You don't even need to use nails to make the mortise and tenon mechanism. Your brother does have some skills in this regard."
When Zhao Yeqing heard these narcissistic words, a sly smile appeared in her eyes. She imitated Mu Xi's previous movements, stood on tiptoe and rubbed his head, saying, "Brother is so amazing."
The brother he mentioned himself and the brother Zhao Yeqing mentioned were not the same.
Mu Xi's eyes darkened when he heard this. Zhao Yeqing thought to herself that it was not good. She remembered a rubber product that they had accidentally found when they were collecting supplies in the tourist area. She rushed to the door of the room.
"I'll go cook first!"
The two of them hadn't cooked properly for the past two days as they were looking for information at home. They had originally wanted to have some delicious meals made with tofu, but in the end the tofu became a side dish for noodles.
Zhao Yeqing took out a piece of tofu from the boiled water and planned to make a good meal with it tonight.
Zhao Yeqing fried and ate some of the tofu dregs left over from making tofu. There was still a lot of them left, so he pulled out a radish, chopped it up, mixed it with green onions and the tofu dregs, then kneaded them into small balls and fried them in a pan.
The tofu is cut into slices, coated with egg liquid and fried until golden brown, then drizzled with salty and fresh sauce. It would be even better if there was pork in it, as it would be more fragrant with some minced pork.
Zhao Yeqing was thinking of eating the ear tofu with sauce on top of the rice, with fried meatballs on the side, and having a light soup to balance the taste.
She went to the yard and cut off the cucumber that Mu Xi had hidden in the rack when it rained. The cucumber, which was only the length of a finger before, has now grown long and plump.
Cut into slices and cook in soup with tofu.
The cucumber and tofu soup is refreshing and non-greasy, and tastes good even when it is cold.
The two men had a hearty meal, and after the sun set, they began to dig the basement.
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