Chapter 464 Planting Passion Fruit
The space in the yard is limited, so only two plants can be planted, and the rest can be planted in the grain field.
This was a habit Zhao Yeqing developed in Meishan. The vegetables planted outside the yard were easily destroyed and eaten by wild animals. Only the small vegetable garden in the yard was her most secure source of food.
This habit remains the same here. If the plants can be planted in the backyard, she will not leave them outside. If there is no room in the yard, she will leave two and plant the rest outside.
At first, the two men piled the firewood next to the wall behind the backyard. Later, due to heavy snow in winter, the original firewood shed was crushed down. Later, it was propped up, but it was crushed down again. Until the brick wall was built inside, the two men moved the firewood in.
The original location of the woodshed is where the banana trees and citrus trees are now.
It is much easier to keep firewood inside than outside. However, with the increasing number of equipment, electrical appliances, machinery, etc. in the home, especially large tools like walk-behind tractors, the tool room cannot hold all of them, and it is easily affected by moisture if placed in the basement. So the firewood has to be moved outside again.
It is not used very often, except when the wood stove is used occasionally, or when smoking bacon and sausages. The firewood stockpiled at home is also decreasing, so it is piled in the corner of the backyard.
When the two men moved the firewood away and tried to build a trellis to plant passion fruit, they found that the space was still too small and they could only plant one plant at most.
Passion fruit will later grow into a climbing vine, so the trellis should be square with some grids laid on top. When the vines cover the grids completely, there will be a shadow underneath that completely blocks out the sunlight.
This thing grows lushly, and the area of this land is only about two square meters. If the passion fruit vines climb upwards in the later stage, the support in this area will only be enough for one plant to grow at most. If there is one more plant, either they will compete for sunlight or the support will not be able to bear the load.
Zhao Yeqing thought about it and decided to give up the traditional planting method. He used ordinary climbing vegetables to build a tripod frame to plant them. In this way, the two plants planted inside would not interfere with each other and the space would be suitable.
When planting passion fruit in grain fields, you need to put up a rack. You can't put all your eggs in one basket.
Large-scale passion fruit cultivation requires ridge-making. The accessories of the walk-behind tractor the two brought back this time happened to include a ridge-making tool. They made ridges after plowing the land once. Each ridge was more than two meters apart, and the distance between plants was about one and a half meters.
We didn't grow many seedlings at home this time, just about twenty. If half of them survived, it would be enough for two people to eat for a year.
Zhao Yeqing thought it through. This thing can be stored. It’s not that it can stay fresh for a long time, but the pulp can be dug out and frozen into chunks in the refrigerator. Then in the summer, it can be used to make soaked water directly.
If you are lucky and have a high harvest, you may be able to eat it for two years after planting once.
However, Zhao Yeqing has never eaten passion fruit that has been frozen for two years.
The passion fruit can be planted before the support is put up. After all, there is still a process from seedling to vine. The two planted the passion fruit in the wheat field, which is the piece of land closest to the door of their house. The wheat planted this year is considered a small harvest, and they probably won’t need to plant next year.
The two thought that if the passion fruit they planted this year did not work out, they would wait until next spring and continue planting it using this rack. After all, it is normally best to sow and plant this fruit in spring.
It’s just that the weather now is a little different from before. The temperature fluctuates little throughout the year. If the seedlings have been successfully raised, it’s okay to try different varieties.
I built a scaffolding-style bamboo cutting house in the bamboo forest. After cutting down the larger bamboos, I split the bamboo joints and saw the familiar bamboo worms inside.
The bamboo worms in the mountains here are not the fat ones that are as thick as fingers, but are relatively small ones, about the thickness of the tip of chopsticks. They taste very fragrant when fried in oil and sprinkled with pepper and salt, and have no insect smell.
After cutting bamboo for so many years, the two men were tired of eating bamboo worms. This time they harvested a small pile of them, which Zhao Yeqing threw directly into the flock of chickens and ducks. The next second, it was as if they were picking up money from the sky. It was so chaotic.
A bamboo worm happened to land on a chicken's head, and the chicken's head was almost pecked bald.
The benefit of chickens eating insects is very obvious, and that is laying eggs.
After two days, the family's egg production increased by one third. Zhao Yeqing cooked five or six boiled eggs every day and placed them in a bowl in the kitchen. He was a little tired from growing passion fruit recently. He felt hungry after exerting himself physically. He could eat one in two bites when he came back to drink water.
The yolk of free-range eggs has the richest aroma, and it won’t get stuck in your throat even if it’s cooked into a runny egg. If you get tired of boiled eggs, you can add some marinade to make braised eggs, which have an extra salty and fragrant taste and are more palatable.
The dogs at home also get a boiled egg as a snack every morning. Dogs of this size have no pressure eating eggs every day. Their fur is shiny and smooth, and they look majestic when they take the cattle and sheep out.
Mu Xi came in from outside and handed the unused thin hemp rope to Zhao Yeqing: "There is still half left, you put it away first, I'm going to take a shower, it's too hot."
The few days after the rain are always extremely hot and humid, and the real cool down will not come until the heat passes.
This thin hemp rope is used to tie the passion fruit and the support so that it can find a way to climb up. After Zhao Yeqing put away the thin hemp rope, he took a small sickle and went to the pond.
The lotus leaves are at their most lush during this period. If they are not picked, they will wither after a while.
Cut a small bundle and put it in the yard to dry. It can also be used to make tea after drying.
The heat during this period not only causes upper respiratory tract inflammation, but is also prone to intestinal problems. Drinking some lotus leaf tea can help cleanse the intestines.
Mu Xi didn't need to explain this specifically, she knew something about it.
Which office worker who sits for a long time, especially those who need to lose weight, would not know about lotus leaf tea?
There were too many fish in the pond. The fish that had spawned in the spring had now grown into big fish. Zhao Yeqing waved the scoop net to scoop up two big ones, walked to the wooden fence, and threw them out without hesitation.
Two lively carps were thrown away with a look of horror on their faces and fell on a meadow not far away.
Zhao Yeqing turned around and walked back. This was not the first time she had done such a thing. She knew that if she looked back more than an hour later after throwing the fish out, it would surely have been taken away by some animal.
It's not a waste if you can't finish it.
On the way home, he caught a few more and brought them back. After they had spit out all the mud and sand, he let Mu Xi slaughter them and make them into snacks.
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