Chapter 136 Planting Sweet Potatoes
It rained on the day the old man went up the mountain, and on the next morning, it was still drizzling, as if God was mourning for the old man.
Although the old man in the village is gone, for most people, life goes on as usual, they have to work in the fields and do housework at home.
Grandma Xi came to find Gao Mingcheng and said that it was time to cut the sweet potato vines for cuttings.
It is best to cut the sweet potato vines on a rainy day. Cut the long ones and leave the short ones. Then use a special knife to tie the sweet potato seedlings into sections. Each section has 2-3 nodes, at least 2 nodes. Then tie them according to the condition of the sweet potato seedlings. Generally, one section has 2 nodes for long nodes and one section has 3 nodes for short nodes. Use one hand to hold a handful and tie them with straw.
After cutting the sweet potato seedlings, you can pick them up and plant them in the field. When planting, plant one about 20 cm apart, not too dense.
The reason why we choose to do cuttings on rainy days is because they are easier to survive.
After cuttings, sprouts will grow in about a week. After they survive, choose a sunny day to loosen the soil and kill the weeds. If you have wood ash at home, grab a handful of it and sprinkle it on the roots of the sweet potatoes. This way, the sweet potatoes will grow particularly well and you won't need to add any other fertilizers in the future.
Because sweet potatoes are easy to grow and have a high yield, every household in the village grows sweet potatoes.
Gao Mingcheng, wearing a straw hat and a simple raincoat made for him by Mei, walked towards the field where Xi Nainai was raising seedlings.
The sweet potato seedlings are growing well now. In fact, they could have been harvested two days earlier, but the weather was fine those days and it would be useless to harvest them too early as it would be detrimental to their survival.
Now that it has rained, it is a good time to cut the sweet potato seedlings and plant them.
Gao Mingcheng was walking in the fields. Looking around, he saw many people bending over to cut sweet potato seedlings. It seemed that they were all planning to plant the sweet potatoes today.
Xi Nainai and Gao Zhuang were also cutting, and some straw had already piled up at Gao Zhuang's feet.
When Gao Mingcheng arrived, he bent down and started working without saying a word. He worked quickly and soon he had cut a pile of sweet potato seedlings. It was estimated that they were enough to plant three or four mu of land, so Gao Mingcheng planned to leave.
"Grandma, I've finished harvesting the rice. I'm going to take it back to plant first." Gao Mingcheng greeted.
Grandma looked up and immediately frowned and called him back, "You only cut so little, how can it be enough for planting? Cut more! I specially planted more seedlings this year!"
Seeing that his grandmother was determined to do so, Gao Mingcheng had no choice but to cut some more. When he had cut enough to plant half an acre of land, he refused to cut any more.
The grandmother couldn't do anything about him and had to let him go.
After Gao Mingcheng left, Xi Nainai said to Gao Zhuang: "Zhuangzhuang, let's plant more this year. After we plant the rice seedlings, Xiuman will be married, and then there will be one more person in the family."
When talking about He Xiuman, a smile appeared on Gao Zhuang's face.
But soon the smile collapsed, and he pouted and said, "Grandma, I don't like sweet potatoes, and Xiuman certainly doesn't like them either!"
During those years, he ate so many sweet potatoes that he vomited!
"You kid..." The grandmother smiled helplessly and said, "If we grow a lot this year, I'll make sweet potato flour for you! You don't like sweet potatoes, but you definitely like sweet potato flour!"
When Gao Zhuang heard about sweet potato noodles, he immediately became motivated.
The process of making sweet potato flour is very complicated, and his grandmother doesn’t make it every year. As far as he can remember, she only made it a few times.
But the sweet potato noodles are really delicious! Slippery and chewy, it tastes even better when cooked with meat.
"Xiuman must like sweet potato noodles too, grandma, let's plant more!" Gao Zhuang became motivated and his movements became lighter.
Seeing this, the grandmother smiled widely.
Over there, Gao Mingcheng had already returned to the land he had cultivated, carrying sweet potato seedlings.
Manyumei was already waiting here. She also wore a hat and a simple raincoat. Fortunately, the rain was not heavy and her body was not soaked.
The land had already been deeply plowed and ridges had been formed in advance. Ridges are a must when planting sweet potatoes. Ridges thicken the soil layer, improve ventilation conditions, facilitate ventilation and light transmission, facilitate drainage, increase ground temperature, and increase the temperature difference between day and night, so as to achieve the goal of increasing production.
The direction of the ridge is preferably north-south so that it can get enough sunlight. The east-west potato ridges receive less sunlight on the north side, which is not conducive to the growth of sweet potatoes. When making ridges on hillsides, the ridge direction should be at right angles to the slope direction to facilitate water storage and prevent the soil from being washed away by rainwater. The direction of the ridges for intercropping sweet potatoes should be consistent with the row direction of the intercropping crops. When making ridges, it is better to dry rather than wet. Ridges that are too wet will easily produce clods and cause wind to leak and moisture to escape.
You see, there are many tricks to farming. If there are two identical pieces of land, one is farmed by an experienced old farmer, and the other is farmed by a young man who knows nothing about farming, the old farmer will definitely get much more crops in the end than the young man!
Gao Mingcheng actually didn't farm much in his previous life. After so many years, he had even forgotten how to farm. However, he had a good elder and a mind that was good at learning.
In the village, as long as you are willing, you can learn the essence of it by observing others working.
It's just that I know the facts but not the reasons behind them.
But as long as the result is good, no one has to pursue the reason. For example, if you ask some experienced farmers why they plant in this way, they may not be able to explain it clearly, but only say that their elders planted in this way, or that the yield is higher in this way.
As for why the yield is so high, what is the scientific reason behind it?
The old farmer doesn’t know, but that doesn’t stop him from growing good crops.
"Mingcheng, are the sweet potatoes from your grandmother's house red-core or white-core?" Xuanyuemei took a handful of sweet potato seedlings and bent down to plant them.
Gao Mingcheng said, "It's the white-heart ones! But her potato varieties are good, and the white-heart ones are also delicious."
"Oh." Xuanyuemei responded, but was a little disappointed. She thought the red heart ones tasted better.
After all the sweet potato seedlings were planted, Xuanyuemei did not go home but went to her second sister's house.
The sweet potatoes at her second sister's house have red cores, and she wanted to ask her second sister for some sweet potato seedlings.
Gao Mingcheng looked at her leaving and smiled helplessly. What could he do with his woman? Of course he would spoil her!
He waved his hoe and dug another ridge next to it.
Xuanyimei moved quickly. As soon as Gao Mingcheng finished making ridges, she came over with a handful of sweet potato seedlings.
With a smile on her face, she proudly showed it to Gao Mingcheng. When she saw the ridge that Gao Mingcheng specially made for her, she felt even sweeter in her heart.
She stepped forward and hurriedly planted the red potato seedlings in her hand.
The newly transplanted sweet potato seedlings are not noticeable at all on the yellow soil. Only when they are fully grown will the vines grow vigorously.
At that time, the sweet potato vines have to be turned over and the lateral roots removed, otherwise the sweet potato yield will be affected.
(End of this chapter)
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