"Wow, so much manure! That'll definitely be enough this time. Now the crops won't grow badly. Look how fertile this manure is!" Grandpa Zhao said as he carried the child outside the yard.
"Yes, we've given them enough fertilizer, so they're sure to grow well. We can just wait to harvest the grain this year," Xu Han laughed heartily.
"That's for sure, this year's grain yield will be 30% higher than in previous years. Hahahaha," Grandpa Zhao laughed.
“We’re sure to have a full granary this year, so we won’t have to worry about not having enough to eat in the future,” Lu Chuan said with a smile.
"Breakfast is ready. Go home and eat first. We'll come back to till the land later."
"Okay, coming right away." Lu Chuan and the others quickly dumped the manure from the last cart to the side, and then headed home together.
When they arrived home, Grandpa Zhao had already prepared breakfast. After washing their hands, the group quickly began to eat.
"This porridge is quite good today. Grandpa Zhao's cooking skills have improved!" Lu Chuan said while slurping down his porridge.
"Yes, the porridge is delicious today, it's so sticky and fragrant," Xu Han praised.
"Hahaha, you like it, I'll make it for you again tomorrow."
As expected, people who cook like to hear others praise their cooking, and Grandpa Zhao is no exception.
Having just finished breakfast, the three of them headed to the wasteland again.
Grandpa Zhao stayed home to look after the children and also gave Mu'er her early education.
Recently, due to the land reclamation and planting, things have been delayed a lot. Now that there is less work in the fields, Grandpa Zhao has more time to continue teaching Mu'er.
It just so happens that the family needs someone, and Grandpa Zhao is the most suitable person to stay at home, as he can tutor Mu'er and help take care of Ze'er.
After the three arrived at the wasteland, Lu Chuan and the Taoist priest were responsible for turning over the paddy fields.
There was water in the paddy field. First, some water was drained, and then the manure that had been brought back in the morning was evenly spread into the paddy field.
After spreading the manure, they led the ox to the paddy field, then harnessed the plow they had bought to the ox, and the two began to try plowing the land.
Having learned from their previous experience growing peanuts, Lu Chuan and the Taoist priest worked much better with their family's big yellow ox this time.
The Taoist priest was spreading manure in front, while Lu Chuan was behind him, holding the plow and driving the ox forward. The plow was driven hard into the ground, and with each step the ox took, it turned up the soil behind it.
No wonder that in this day and age, every household wants to own a cow. It has to be said that the working efficiency of a cow is much higher than that of a human.
If it's done by hand, the soil needs to be turned over one hoe at a time.
If you use oxen, you only need one person to hold the plow from behind.
Once you reach the field, simply turn the oxen and plow around and continue walking.
Xu Han wanted to try it herself, but she was too weak.
He had tried once before, but he couldn't quite control the ox and the plow. Lu Chuan was also afraid that the ox might accidentally hurt his wife, so he didn't dare let Xu Han plow the field.
Unfortunately, Xu Han had no choice but to give up. But it was still quite nice to be able to see it.
Plowing a paddy field isn't just about tilling; you also need to harrow it afterwards. You need to harrow the field twice before you can plant anything.
The first step is to break up the large clods of mud that have been turned up by plowing.
The second step is to level the ground, pulling the higher areas towards the lower areas to make the land more level. This way, when it rains, there won't be any low-lying areas where water accumulates.
After this series of operations, the paddy field was finally ready, and all that was left was to wait for the crops to be planted.
After watching for a while, Xu Han stopped caring and started picking up the tools next to her to fertilize the vegetables in the garden.
Because she wanted to make a comparison, Xu Han didn't fertilize all of them, but instead left a few of each type of vegetable unfertilized.
This way, we can also check the compost's effectiveness later on. Does it actually work?
However, Xu Han was still very confident in the compost she made.
Therefore, only a few plants of each variety were left without fertilizer, while most of the others were fertilized with manure.
This way, the harvest won't be affected, and the comparison effect can be seen, achieving two goals at once.
Because there was not much manure when we first started growing vegetables, we only added a little manure to the vegetables, while we didn't add any manure to the sweet potatoes and peanuts, only some wood ash.
Xu Han's task today is to apply fertilizer to all the crops in the field so that they can grow better later.
Topdressing vegetables is easy. To improve fertilizer efficiency, simply dig a hole 10 centimeters away from the vegetable roots and bury the fertilizer in it.
The hole you dig must not be too close to the vegetable roots, otherwise the fertilizer effect will be too great and will burn the vegetables.
For sweet potatoes and peanuts, digging holes is too troublesome, so Xu Han simply dug a trench in the furrow, put the fertilizer in, and then covered it with soil.
This work is even more troublesome than tilling the land, so after the Taoist priest finished his work, he came over to help Xu Han apply fertilizer to the crops.
Lu Chuan, on the other hand, could turn the soil by himself without needing anyone's help.
"This kind of fertilization is really troublesome," the Taoist priest said impatiently after working for a while.
"Haha, farmers don't have easy jobs. It's all the same. As long as the crops grow well and the harvest is good, we can do any kind of hard or tiring work."
"Do all crops need to be fertilized?" the Taoist priest asked, puzzled.
"Not necessarily. Some crops need topdressing, while others don't. Of course, vegetables definitely need topdressing so that they can grow better later."
This time we'll bury the fertilizer, and next time, we can just apply small amounts multiple times, piling it around the base of the plant.
At this time, without chemical fertilizers, applying fertilizer to various crops becomes a troublesome task.
In modern times, fertilizer can simply be spread on the ground before a heavy rain.
However, if you scatter manure directly on the ground, the fertilizer effect is not very good. It is better to dig a hole and bury it.
Of course, the best way is to apply enough base fertilizer before planting to meet the needs of crop growth.
But it's too late to say all this now. Back then, when we were growing vegetables, we didn't have enough manure, so we didn't use much.
Fortunately, sweet potatoes, peanuts, and potatoes are root crops, so they don't need too much manure. Just enough wood ash is enough.
Xu Han used up all the wood ash she had accumulated. The yield of these root crops should not be too bad when they are harvested.
"That's good. I thought we all had to keep getting fat like this. If that were the case, we'd be exhausted."
"No, no, don't worry," Xu Han reassured her.
After two days of hard work, the group finally managed to re-fertilize all the crops.
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