Traveling through the famine, I stockpiled supplies like crazy

Chapter 337: Turning over the paddy fields

"Wow, there are so many manures. It must be enough this time. Now we can't let the crops grow badly. Look how fertile this manure is." Grandpa Zhao came to the outside of the yard and said as he held the child in his arms.

"Yes, with enough fertilizer, the crops will definitely grow well. We can just wait to harvest the crops this year." Xu Han laughed.

"That's for sure. This year's grain output will be 30% more than in previous years. Hahahaha." Grandpa Zhao also laughed.

"We will definitely be able to fill our warehouses with grain this year, so we won't have to worry about having no food to eat in the future." Lu Chuan also said with a smile.

"Breakfast is ready. Go home and eat first, and then come back to till the soil later."

"Okay, I'll be right there." Lu Chuan and his companions quickly dumped the manure on the last cart aside, and then went home together.

When they got home, Grandpa Zhao had already prepared breakfast. After washing their hands, they quickly started eating breakfast.

"Today's porridge is cooked well. Grandpa Zhao's cooking skills have improved." Lu Chuan said while slurping the porridge.

"Yes, today's porridge is delicious, glutinous and fragrant." Xu Han also praised.

"Hahahaha, if you like it, I'll make it for you tomorrow."

As expected, people who cook like to hear others praise their cooking, and Grandpa Zhao is no exception.

As soon as they finished breakfast, the three of them rushed to the wasteland again.

Grandpa Zhao was at home looking after the children and also giving Mu'er some education.

In recent times, a lot of work has been delayed due to land reclamation and farming. Now that there is not much work to do in the fields, Grandpa Zhao has time to continue teaching Mu'er.

It just so happens that the family needs someone at home, and Grandpa Zhao can tutor Mu'er and help take care of Ze'er, so he is the most suitable person to stay at home.

After the three of them 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 added, and then the manure brought back in the morning was evenly spread into the paddy field.

After spreading the manure, they led the cow into the paddy field, then put the plow they had bought earlier on the cow, and the two began to try to plow the field.

Because of the experience of planting peanuts last time, Lu Chuan and the Taoist priest cooperated very well with the big yellow cattle in their family this time.

I saw the Taoist priest spreading manure in front, and Lu Chuan holding the plow and driving the ox forward from behind. The plow was inserted into the ground fiercely, and the ox could turn over the land behind with every step it took.

It’s no wonder that in this era, every household wants to have a cow. It has to be said that the work efficiency of a cow is really much higher than that of a human.

If people are turning the soil, they need to use a hoe to turn it up one hoe at a time.

If it were a cow, all it would take would be one person to hold the plow from behind.

When you reach the edge of the field, turn the ox and the plow around and keep moving forward.

Xu Han saw it and wanted to go up and try it herself, but she was too weak.

They had tried it once before, but they 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.

Helpless, Xu Han could only give up. But it was still nice to have a look.

To turn over a paddy field, you can't just plow the land, you also need to harrow it afterwards. You need to harrow the field twice before you can plant anything.

The first pass requires breaking up the large clods of mud turned up by plowing the field.

The second time you need to level the ground, pull the high places to the low places, and make the land flatter. In this way, when it rains, there will be no water accumulation in the low-lying areas of the ground.

After this series of operations, the paddy field is finally ready, and all that's left is to plant crops.

After watching for a while, Xu Han stopped caring about it and picked up the tools beside her and started fertilizing the vegetables in the garden.

In order to make a comparison, Xu Han did not fertilize all the vegetables, but left a few plants of each kind alone without fertilization.

This way, we can see how effective the compost is later. Is it effective?

However, Xu Han is still very confident in the compost she makes.

So only a few trees of each variety were left without fertilizer, and most of the others were fertilized with manure.

This will not affect the harvest, and you can also see the contrast effect, killing two birds with one stone.

Because there was less manure when the vegetables were first planted, only a little manure was added to the vegetables, while no manure was added to the sweet potatoes and peanuts at all, only some wood ash.

So Xu Han’s task today is to apply fertilizer to all the crops in the field so that they can grow better later.

It is easy to apply fertilizer to vegetables. In order to achieve better fertilizer effect, just dig a hole ten centimeters away from the roots of the vegetables and bury the fertilizer in it.

The hole must not be dug too close to the roots of the vegetables, otherwise the fertilizer will be too strong and will burn the vegetables.

For sweet potatoes and peanuts, digging holes was too troublesome, so Xu Han simply dug a ditch in the ridge, put the fertilizer in and then covered it with soil.

This workload was even more troublesome than turning the soil, so after the Taoist priest finished his work, he came over to help Xu Han apply fertilizer to the crops.

Lu Chuan can turn the soil by himself without any help.

"It's really troublesome to apply fertilizer like this." The Taoist priest said impatiently after working for a while.

"Hahaha, there is no easy job for farmers. They are all the same. As long as the crops can grow well and the harvest is good, I can do it no matter how hard or tiring it is."

"Do all crops need to be fertilized?" the Taoist priest asked doubtfully.

"Not necessarily. Some crops need top dressing, while others don't. Of course, if you are growing vegetables, you definitely need to apply top dressing, so that the vegetables that come after them can grow better.

We will bury the fertilizer this time, and next time, we can just pile it at the roots in small amounts multiple times.”

At this time, without chemical fertilizers, it became a hassle to apply fertilizer to various crops.

In modern times, before the heavy rain comes, you can just spread the fertilizer on the ground.

However, as for manure, it is not very effective if it is spread directly on the ground. It is better to dig a hole and bury it.

Of course, the best way is to apply enough base fertilizer for crop growth before planting.

But it’s too late to say this now. There was not enough manure when we were planting the vegetables, so not much was put in.

Fortunately, sweet potatoes, peanuts and potatoes are root crops, so the demand for manure is not too high. You just need to add enough wood ash.

A lot of wood ash was accumulated at that time, and Xu Han used it all up. The yield of these root crops should not be too bad when they are harvested.

"That's not bad. I thought we had to apply fertilizer like this. If that were the case, we would be exhausted to death."

"No, no, don't worry." Xu Han comforted.

In this way, the group worked for two days and finally managed to fertilize all the crops.