"The nighttime temperature has already dropped below 15 degrees Celsius, we need to find a way to increase the temperature..."
Su Jianguo began to draw, and soon sketched out a simple seedling shed, with labels such as "straw curtain insulation" and "coal stove heating" next to it.
"seed..."
He suddenly remembered something, hurriedly rummaged through his bundle, and pulled out a few small paper packets from the bottom.
I carefully opened it, and inside were seeds neatly packaged and categorized.
Beijing prickly cucumber, Qiangli Mishou tomato, Zhangqiu scallion...
He bought these on his way here.
"We need to conduct a germination test first."
Su Jianguo rolled off the kang (a heated brick bed) and scooped half a bowl of water from the water vat in the corner.
He put a few cucumber seeds into a bowl, and then put tomato seeds into another bowl, carefully labeling them.
After finishing these tasks, he returned to his desk to continue planning.
A simple map of the four mountains has been drawn on the paper, with the sunny south slopes highlighted.
Su Jianguo circled several locations with a red pen.
"The soil here is loose, sheltered from the wind, and sunny, making it ideal for building greenhouses..."
He turned to the "crop rotation" chapter in the manual, and his brows furrowed again.
"Cucumbers cannot be cropped continuously; they must be rotated with other vegetables..."
Su Jianguo drew up the planting plan on a piece of paper.
"Year 1: Greenhouse 1 cucumbers, Greenhouse 2 cucumbers, Greenhouse 3 tomatoes, Greenhouse 4 various side dishes..."
As for the cost...
Su Jianguo opened another ledger, which contained detailed records of various budgets.
"200 bamboo poles, 300 kilograms of plastic film, 100 straw mats..."
He checked each item one by one, occasionally adjusting the abacus to recalculate.
"Artificial..."
He listed the manpower he needed on a piece of paper.
"Building the shed requires 10 strong laborers, and raising seedlings requires 3 experienced people..."
Su Jianguo wasn't worried about this at all, as there were plenty of people in the village who were idle.
Thinking of this, he suddenly remembered something and hurriedly wrote it down on the paper.
"Seedling soil!"
Su Jianguo slapped his forehead.
"I almost forgot about this."
He turned to the "seedling substrate" section of the manual and began to study it carefully.
"Mix humus, river sand, and farmyard manure in the specified proportions..."
As the night deepened, the village roosters began to crow.
Su Jianguo stretched, his bones cracking.
He stretched his stiff neck and finally completed the detailed planning scheme.
He carefully stacked all the papers in order and sewed them into a small booklet.
The cover neatly reads "Sujiatun Winter Greenhouse Vegetable Planting Plan".
...
The next morning.
Su Jianguo was woken up by his own mother.
"Jianguo, what time is it? Get up and eat!"
My mother's voice came from the yard.
"Mother, I'm coming!"
In a daze, Su Jianguo responded.
After clearing his head, Su Jianguo couldn't help but sigh.
It's true, as you get older, you can't stay up late anymore. If I were 20 years old, I could go two days and two nights without feeling uncomfortable at all.
And now...
After just one night of staying up, Su Jianguo felt a headache and dizziness.
I quickly finished washing up.
He touched the planning booklet he kept close to his body, then left the room.
At the dinner table, Su Jianguo's mother specially cooked several salted duck eggs, which were served with millet porridge and pickled vegetables to soothe the stomach.
Su Jianguo ate two large bowls.
"Dad, I planned everything out last night."
While eating, Su Jianguo spoke to Grandpa Su.
"Let's start by trying it out on two acres of land, planting cucumbers and tomatoes."
The old man picked up the bowl and took a sip of millet porridge.
"Growing cucumbers? Tomatoes??"
"right."
Su Jianguo peeled the salted duck egg clean, put it in the millet porridge, crushed it with chopsticks, and ate it with the porridge.
"I've calculated it. If we can get them on the market by early November, one mu (approximately 0.16 acres) of cucumbers can yield 2,000 jin (approximately 1,000 catties), which can sell for 2,000 yuan at the current market price."
The old man paused, the spoon in his hand momentarily still.
"so much?"
"That's still a conservative estimate."
Su Jianguo's eyes gleamed.
"If you wait until around the Spring Festival, the price could double."
Suddenly, hurried footsteps came from the courtyard, and Su Jianjun rushed in.
"Brother! I went to check it out early this morning. Kong Deshun's bamboo poles are of good quality and the price is reasonable!"
Su Jianguo's eyes lit up.
How many?
"Enough to build two acres of greenhouses!"
Su Jianjun said excitedly.
"When he heard that you, brother, were going to start a greenhouse vegetable farm, he said he could buy on credit!"
"Very good!"
Su Jianguo was immediately excited.
"Go and bring the bamboo poles back today. Second brother, go find Old Wang again and ask about the seedlings."
Old Wang is a well-known vegetable king in Sujiatun. He grows all kinds of vegetables every year, but he doesn't sell them. He just eats them himself or gives them away.
After finishing the last mouthful of porridge, the old man suddenly said something.
"Jianguo, we need to hurry up with seedling cultivation; the seasons wait for no one."
"Father is right."
Su Jianguo nodded.
"I'll go prepare the seedbeds today. Second son, after lunch, you come with me to the south slope to choose a spot."
After breakfast, Su Jianguo took his younger brother to the south slope.
He took out the planning booklet and checked it against the actual site.
"This place is sheltered from the wind, sunny, and has good soil."
Su Jianguo squatted down, grabbed a handful of soil, and rubbed it in his hands.
"Second brother, look how loose this soil is, it's perfect for seedlings."
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