Who knows! As soon as I returned to the mountains to farm, I encountered a natural disaster.

This watermelon jam is not a sweet mouth-watering jam in the traditional sense, but a mixed rice and noodle sauce with salt and chili.

Zhao Yeqing's face wrinkled up when he heard about it for the first time, thinking that it must be some kind of dark dish.

At this moment, she was planting watermelon seeds in a seedling pot, and Mu Xi asked, "Are you going to plant so many watermelons this year?"

The moment she learned about watermelon jam, the expression on her face was exactly the same as before.

"Oh, I'm not going to lie to you, it's really delicious. If you also like sweet things, you will definitely like this one more." The combination of the rich bean paste aroma and the slightly sweet taste of watermelon is very clever.

Mu Xi thought of the moldy tofu that was very annoying last time, and finally chose to believe Zhao Yeqing, "Then, should you place this seedling pot indoors or outdoors?"

"Put it in the backyard, set up a simple small stand next to it, cover it with plastic sheeting when it rains, and uncover it when it doesn't rain. Take good care of it, and maybe you can achieve watermelon freedom this year."

Last year we were barely free, but the quality of the watermelons was not particularly good. There were many watermelon seeds and the skin was thick.

At first she thought it was a problem with the variety, but then during the period of maximum sunshine, the melon matured to the size of a football. When she cut it open, she found that the rind was half as thick as the previous one.

Zhao Yeqing also deliberately saved the seeds of the watermelon. He planted them in a separate seedling pot just now and labeled them. He will try again this year to see if it is a problem with the variety.

There was no material for nailing the shelves at home, so Mu Xi went outside the yard to chop bamboo.

After planting it for more than a year, the bamboo had grown into a small piece. Mu Xi cut one back and broke off three or four bamboo shoots.

The bamboo shoots were still very tender, only two fingers thick, and even less after the shells were peeled off. Zhao Yeqing peeled the bamboo shoots and threw the shells into the compost bin.

There is not much garbage at home, and there is almost no plastic garbage from modern civilization. Usually it is just kitchen waste such as bones, eggshells, vegetable leaves, etc.

Zhao Yeqing's food waste compost bin has been put into use again after the polar night. Usually there is no garbage to burn, and it is all thrown into the compost bin to become fertilizer. Naturally, the bamboo shoot shells are also excellent materials.

The fresh and tender bamboo shoots are peeled off and soaked in water. In the evening, cut off a piece of bacon and fry it.

Speaking of bamboo shoots, Zhao Yeqing walked out of the kitchen again. Mu Xi had already nailed the shelf to pieces, and he would just put the plastic sheet on it for a while.

She walked into the greenhouse in the courtyard. When she took out the seeds that had not been planted this year and saved them, she found a bag of black seeds in the seed pile. After trying to sow the seeds, green shoots emerged and she discovered that they were asparagus seeds. .

It has been more than a month since I planted it, and I have only seen a little green. I don’t know if the soil type is not suitable for asparagus growth or it is a climate problem. I always feel that it should not be growing like this.

Zhao Yeqing squatted in the ground and observed carefully, holding a handful of wet soil in his hand and guessing:

Could it be that it's too humid?

As I was thinking about it, I suddenly noticed that the asparagus closest to the potato patch next to it seemed to be taller than the asparagus next to it.

But the moisture content of the potato plots is the same...

In the past, the potatoes were planted in the vegetable garden outside along with the sweet potatoes. Later, the two found that they couldn't eat all the potatoes they planted, so they simply planted a row in the yard, which was enough for two people.

The two of them have a clear understanding of the growth habits of potatoes. Before planting, they specially mixed some sandy soil with the soil here to make the soil softer and more breathable.

Zhao Yeqing felt the quality of the soil here and was 80% sure in his heart that the problem should be in the soil.

But now that the asparagus has grown, it is difficult to cultivate it further and adjust it. This thing has a long growth cycle. If it is planted this spring, it will not grow until the next spring. Fortunately, it can be harvested for many years.

How about spreading some sandy loam on top?

Zhao Yeqing sighed. There is no signal now. If before, he could take out his mobile phone to check the growth habits of various crops. Now he can only observe by himself. Every unfamiliar crop must be observed at every stage. Observe carefully and take notes.

Only in this way can adjustments be made during the next planting. Grains and vegetables at home will be grown little by little, gradually achieving a high yield.

It's just that the things they have grown in the past few years have been crops that the two of them are already very familiar with. It has been a long time since they have had to worry about guessing. This year, because they have to take out all the things they have never planted before and save them for seed, the more unfamiliar varieties they need. The more mental effort it takes.

Zhao Yeqing wrote down the habits of asparagus in his notebook:

Good temperature adaptability, prefers loose sandy soil, high drainage requirements, medium fertilizer needs...

If the land can be elevated, drainage will be better.

Zhao Yeqing thought about it carefully and felt that he still had to treat the soil first. After all, it is a perennial crop. If it is not treated well now, he will have to watch the crops that are good and bad in the next few years of harvesting.

I'm too lazy to steal.

Now that the soil has just broken out and the roots have not yet penetrated very deep, shovel up the entire top soil together with the asparagus, add a layer of sandy loam below, and then put the shoveled soil back intact. It won't have much impact.

We no longer have sandy loam soil at home, and we have to go to the lake to get some back.

Zhao Yeqing stood up, and when he walked out of the vegetable garden, Mu Xi had just spread the plastic sheet and moved the watermelon seedling pots in.

She said: "We seem to have forgotten one thing, the tricycle that we agreed to move back... We went to and from the tourist area so many times to get tiles and cabinets, and we just forgot about the tricycle."

After saying this, Mu Xi remembered that it was indeed true that he had forgotten to pick up the ramie he had promised to harvest.

"Let's go, get the three-wheeler back, and take a cart of sandy loam back from the lake. I was reminded when I saw this asparagus today. There is a lot of rainfall now. Mixing more sandy loam before planting can help with drainage and ventilation."

Two people had to go together to get the tricycle back. The car couldn't fit inside, so one person had to ride the tricycle back, but the tricycle didn't have a battery...

Mu Xi thought for a moment and said, "How about we drive another car back? There are many pickup trucks in the tourist area. The trunk is relatively large and can transport large logs."

This is true. It would be much more convenient to have a pickup truck. I didn't get one before because of concerns about fuel consumption and weather. Now that I have found a gas station, I don't have to worry about fuel consumption, and the weather is getting better.

When the two of them go out and sit in the front, even if they need to take the dogs out, they will not get too cold or hot sitting in the back of the car in this weather.

It seems that pickup trucks are now the most practical vehicles.

"Okay, let's take the tools with us. The car has been parked there for too long. If there is a problem with the tires, they need to be inflated and replaced...the third wheel still needs to be brought back."