Chapter 110 (continued)

Thus, the two major working groups of the Science and Technology Department were initially established, and their frameworks were temporarily set up for both pesticides and breeding.

With the support of these two groups from the Science and Technology Department, Qing Mengzhu and his team were able to farm more and more successfully.

That day, Qing Mengzhu and the others were busy covering the chili peppers and tomatoes with greenhouses.

As the weather gets colder, tomatoes in their peak production period become more vulnerable. If they are not covered with a greenhouse, their leaves and fruits will be damaged by frost. Covering them with a greenhouse eliminates this worry.

Unless it's extremely cold, tomatoes will not be affected by cold waves.

After the greenhouses are properly covered, the peak production period for tomatoes can be extended for a while longer; based on the current situation, it should extend until the Spring Festival.

After the Spring Festival, they will plant next year's tomatoes, and the harvest will resume quickly, so it won't have much impact on their tomato production and sales.

The steel frame and plastic film used to build the greenhouse were provided by a supplier introduced by Nian Xinfei.

That supplier was very tactful; not only did he give them a discounted price, but he also sent someone over to help them.

They only need to assemble the semi-finished products, and the assembly speed is very fast.

After the greenhouse was erected, Qing Mengzhu began to lead people to loosen the soil.

The tomato fields, chili fields, vegetable gardens, and even the bamboo forests on the mountain all need their soil loosened.

Qing Mengzhu has already applied enough fertilizer to various crops during this period, so there is no need to fertilize for the time being. Just keep the soil loose.

Loosening the soil helps the circulation of water and air, promotes the activity of soil organisms, and accelerates the humification and mineralization of organic matter in the soil.

After the soil is loosened, the plants can quickly absorb and utilize the fertilizer, improving production efficiency and fruit yield, and then they can usher in a new harvest.

In addition to loosening the soil, they also need to take advantage of the dry season to clean up the ditches and other water conservancy facilities.

After a year of use, various ditches and waterways may be filled with silt and overgrown with weeds. If they are not cleaned, the water level will decrease and the flow rate will slow down, making it more difficult to release water next year.

Qing Mengzhu and the others have many miscellaneous tasks to do every day, keeping them extremely busy.

That day, Qing Mengzhu went to the field early, intending to continue loosening the soil.

When he arrived, Feng Ningxiang and the others had already arrived. Since it wasn't work time yet, they were sitting on the edge of the field chatting and having breakfast.

Qing Mengzhu approached and, overhearing them mention the fields, casually asked, "What happened to the fields?"

As everyone greeted him, Feng Ningxiang said, "We were just saying that the fertilization and loosening of the soil recently have really worked; the crops in the field are growing so well, especially the radishes."

Miao Lan looked up. "The radishes in the field are thicker than my thigh."

Tan Wenlei: "They're thicker than my thighs, and not just one or two are thicker than my thighs, every single one is thicker than my thighs."

Qing Mengzhu laughed, "That's an exaggeration. How could a radish be that thick?"

Tan Wenlei: "Really, I just stretched it out and specifically compared them. Speaking of which, it's about time to pull up the radishes, isn't it? I think they've grown big enough; if we don't pull them up soon, they'll get too old."

Qing Mengzhu had already scheduled the radish-pulling activity. "It'll rain the day after tomorrow, we'll pull them after the rain."

Feng Ningxiang: "Are you going to dry radish slices?"

Qing Mengzhu shook her head. "No, we won't dry them. We'll use these radishes for compost. But composting depends on the weather. If it rains a lot, the compost will rot easily, and the quality of the compost won't be good."

Everyone was surprised when he said he wanted to compost.

Tan Wenlei: "Such good radishes, you're going to use them all for compost?!"

Qing Mengzhu: "Yes, radishes aren't worth much, and they don't fetch a good price when sold. It's better to use them for composting; that way, you can make pretty good fertilizer."

This year's harvest is good; the radishes are indeed growing well, but they're not fetching a good price.

The village's supermarkets and community agricultural companies buy ordinary radishes for only 30 cents a pound.

Even if Qing Mengzhu's radishes could be sold at a higher price, the selling price probably wouldn't be too high, maybe just a few cents more, which wouldn't be worthwhile.

However, everyone felt it was a waste that Qing Mengzhu used such fresh and juicy white radishes directly for compost.

What excellent grain!

Seeing everyone's expressions, Qing Mengzhu explained, "Even if we don't use radishes for composting, we'll use other vegetables. Aren't the purple clover we grow meant for composting? Radishes are relatively cheaper, so the cost of composting them is lower."

Feng Ningxiang agreed, "Indeed, we can't save money on this. Even if we don't compost it ourselves, we'll have to buy it from outside."

Qing Mengzhu: "Right?"

Qing Mengzhu had already considered this when he planted the seed; he wanted to sell a batch of goods to the Interstellar Mall to earn more Star Coins.

Radishes are a perfect vegetable; they're large and unassuming, and even if the price per unit is slightly lower, you can still make a small profit selling them to the Interstellar Mall.

After the Interstellar Mall absorbed the substances from the radish, they directly composted it, and probably not many people would suspect anything.

Most importantly, radishes only need to be planted for three months to mature.

After planting the radishes, we deep-plowed the soil, which didn't delay next year's spring planting at all.

Furthermore, radishes belong to the cruciferous vegetable family, which is different from the solanaceous, cucurbitaceous, and legume plants grown in spring and summer. Planting radishes after spring and summer vegetables can achieve the purpose of crop rotation and reduce many pests and diseases.

Because radishes were mentioned, Qing Mengzhu went to the field to check on them.

He had the idea of selling radishes at the time, so he planted a lot of them, a total of more than four acres.

This is already a very large area. The yield of these radishes they grow can reach tens of thousands of kilograms per mu, and in total, they can harvest at least 40,000 kilograms of radishes.

If he were an ordinary farmer, receiving so many radishes would probably give him a headache.

However, he has an Interstellar Mall. Let alone a mere 40,000 jin of radishes, even if the price were increased tenfold, the Interstellar Mall could still handle it.

Time flew by, and soon it was time for Qing Mengzhu's family to harvest radishes.

Their radishes were big and long, with lush leaves that basically covered the entire field.

Such a large radish was not suitable for machinery, Qing Mengzhu simply asked the company's people to pull the radish by hand.

Their soil is loose enough that they don't need tools when pulling up radishes; they can just grab the leaves and pull the whole radish up.

If everyone gets involved, it should be possible to finish pulling them all in a day.

Looking at all those radishes, Zhao Hexi asked, "Are you really not selling them? It's such a waste to use them all for compost."

Qing Mengzhu: "Not for sale. But anyone who wants some can take some home, and I'll send some to the company later."

Their company has a dedicated cook, and most of the vegetables the employees eat are grown on their own land.

It should taste good when you make radish cake, oden, or radish stew with pork ribs. The tender leaves can also be used to pickle some sauerkraut.

Zhao Hexi: "Fine, it's your land, you decide."

Qing Mengzhu: "Thank you all for your hard work today. Let's get to work."

The people around didn't say much and went straight to the field to start pulling up radishes.

The weather was nice today, and the sun warmed my back. Pulling radishes wasn't cold at all; in fact, it was quite comfortable.

They placed the pulled-up radishes on the soil.

These radishes are so big that the soil can no longer contain them all; some have grown underground, while others have grown directly above ground.

The part below the soil is white, while the part above ground is green.

Almost every radish has two distinct colors, making it look very unique.

When they got tired of pulling radishes, they sat down to rest on the edge of the field and simply took out the fruit knife they carried with them, cut the radishes in half, and ate the tenderest core inside.

These radishes aren't very spicy; instead, they're crisp and sweet, juicy and full of radish flavor.

Everyone eats it like fruit.

While they were eating radishes, Qing Mengzhu's two dogs spotted them, wagging their big, fluffy tails and coming over to sniff this and that, their faces practically screaming "greedy!"

Some people saw that they were cute and tried to feed them, but they wouldn't eat.