Chapter 77

Planting vegetables

After the New Year’s Eve dinner, Grandma Li took out some melon seeds, and the three old people chatted while eating them.

Fang Xin watched Xiao Kai playing with the dog.

He also became very familiar with the dog, hugging it and kissing it, showing great affection.

Feed melon seeds to your dog.

Even if he rushed to feed Xiao Kai a meal, it was still not fast enough for the dog to eat, and he himself didn't even eat a few.

Gouzi thought Xiaokai was too slow to give up, so he went ahead and ate all the melon seeds in Xiaokai's hand.

Xiao Kai hurriedly went up to pry open the dog's mouth, "This has skin, you can't eat the skin, wait for me to remove the shell for you."

Gouzi simply pulled his hand away.

“Click, click, click.”

Then I saw the dog start spitting out melon seed shells from its mouth.

Xiao Kai's hand that was about to tear the dog's mouth stopped. He was stunned that the dog could actually spit out the shell by itself.

He suddenly reached out his hand and tore the dog's face again, "Tell me, are you hiding someone inside?"

Suddenly he pinched his hands again, "Hey, you evil beast, don't show your true colors yet!"

Fang Xin's mouth twitched. Why is this kid so dramatic?

Gouzi stopped eating melon seeds, rolled his eyes at him, turned his head away and ignored him.

The night deepens.

Fang Xin led the dog away.

This year was unusually quiet. There were no deafening firecrackers, no colorful fireworks, and no bustling crowds.

Just a simple meal.

Not bad.

After returning home, Fang Xin suddenly felt like drinking some wine. He had never drunk much before, but he was in a good mood during the New Year, so he had a sip.

She picked out a bottle of plum wine from the storage space. This wine has a low alcohol content, so she should be able to hold back.

She sat cross-legged at the table on the kang, found a glass, poured in plum wine, and thought, how can one drink without snacks? After consciously selecting something in the storage space, she took out a white foam box and took out a large bag from it.

Pickled chicken feet.

I stockpiled these from an old lady at the night market before the end of the world. I never thought of eating them because I ate too much and completely forgot about it.

I put some of it on a plate and put the rest back.

Let’s eat.

A whole phoenix claw was stuffed into the mouth.

Yeah~

tasty.

That old lady has really good cooking skills.

It would have been better to let her do some more.

Everyone has their own way of cooking, she simply can't make this taste.

Another sip of plum wine.

Sweet and sour taste.

Delicious.

He drank a whole bottle of plum wine and ate a whole plate of shrimp.

Hiccup

satisfy.

What a luxury it is to be able to spend a warm New Year in the last days, and it is something that many people desire but cannot achieve.

After New Year’s Eve, the Chinese New Year is over and everyone quickly returns to their busy lives.

These days, the second elder's family and Old Man Wang's family have been busy. Both families have to process livestock meat every day.

At the same time, he was busy making a large wooden trough for growing vegetables.

Even the children have to take action and act like adults, helping with housework.

Old man Wang knows some carpentry work, which can be seen from the revolving box he made for Fang Xin. His carpentry work is very good.

Fang Xin took the rotating box to the living room. The original color of the wood looked good and there was no need to change the color.

She took out a bottle of wood wax and coated the shelf with it to prevent decay and insects, and also increase its service life.

Place it in the living room to dissipate the smell, and leave it for a few hours until the coating dries.

I also sent them two bottles.

After discussion between the two old men, the vegetable trough was changed to 1 meter x 80 centimeters in size and 50 centimeters in depth.

If it is too big and filled with soil, it will be very laborious to move it back and forth. Moreover, if it is too heavy, it will easily become deformed. Of course you have to do it carefully when you make it. You can't just use it once and then forget about it. You can't just mess around.

The bottom of the trough is made very thick. Since there is plenty of wood, the stronger the better. Drainage holes are drilled with an electric drill, and finally the entire trough is coated with wood wax.

The four corners and the middle of the bottom of the trough are used as support points. Two bricks are placed to raise the trough, which can also ensure good drainage.

It took three days to finally make all the wooden troughs needed for the whole house.

The other room on the first floor was used by the elders to store miscellaneous items, so the room for growing vegetables was placed on the second floor.

There are three rows of wooden troughs, four in each row, a total of twelve, six for each family, leaving two aisles for people to walk through, which is also convenient for maintenance.

There is also a stove to ensure the temperature in the house. It doesn't need to be too hot, just enough.

Long-tube fill lights are hung above the walls.

Fang Xin was free so he led the two old men out to dig the soil. He first dug up the thick snow on top and looked at the soil underneath.

"The soil is quite hard, and it's a bit hard to shovel," Fang Xin shoveled hard but didn't shovel much.

"Frozen."

“How is the soil?”

"It's frozen so you can't see it. I'll dig it out with a shovel later."

Fang Xin dug out a small amount of soil with great effort. The two old men leaned over and looked at it. Grandpa Li shook his head and said, "It's a bit yellow, not black soil."

Old man Wang also shook his head, "It doesn't seem to work."

Fang Xin put down the shovel and said, "Let's dig somewhere else."

After changing three places, we finally found a place with decent black soil. We filled a total of 8 full bags and pulled them back on a snowmobile.

But a new problem arises: without fertilizer or if the fertilizer is insufficient, the crops will not grow well.

"That's easy. If you have any unwanted animal waste, collect it and bury it in the soil. It will slowly ferment and decompose into organic fertilizer."

"Yes, Xinxin still has a way," Old Man Wang flattered him slowly.

"It can also be used as water fertilizer. When the crops grow, we can apply some water fertilizer."

"Okay, okay, okay."

The two old men hurried to collect unwanted animal entrails, scraps, or kitchen waste, but it was not enough, so they ran out to collect leaves and the like.

Because the snow was too thick, Gan simply dug a hole and got in to collect leaves.

I really worked hard to grow vegetables.

Chinese people like to grow vegetables no matter where they are. Even if there are no conditions, they will create them. The vegetable-growing gene is deeply engraved in their bones.

Grandpa Li and Old Man Wang carefully poured the excavated soil into the wooden trough.

The soil was frozen in pieces.

The two of them kept turning the soil in the wooden trough. As they turned it, the soil slowly melted. The melted soil could not be used for planting immediately; it had to be dried thoroughly before it could be used.

After the soil was dry, Grandpa Li took out a bag of lime powder and sprinkled it on the soil. Lime powder can disinfect and kill pests and insect eggs.

Finally everything is ready.

Grandma Li brought over the soaked coriander seeds and other seeds, as well as a bunch of scallion roots, all cut neatly.

The twelve troughs were gradually filled up, but some people still felt unsatisfied. It really is true that growing vegetables can be addictive.

Finally, a layer of accumulated snow is sprinkled on top. The snow slowly melts and seeps into the soil, moistening the soil.

Mission accomplished.

Several people looked expectant and nervous. They had never grown vegetables indoors before and didn’t know what it would be like.

Looking forward to a good harvest.