Chapter 25

After making up his mind, Qing Mengzhu went out to the field and picked a basket of the biggest, reddest tomatoes. He took out their seeds, air-dried them, and then began preparing them for germination.

Tomato seeds only needed one or two weeks to break dormancy. If all went well, he would see the first signs of sprouting next week.

While preparing the tomato seeds, Qing Mengzhu had originally wanted to use the clove of "Luring Grass" he had won in the lottery.

Unfortunately, the garlic had only just put out a few tender leaves and was nowhere near ready to use.

It would probably be at least another month before he could use it.

Qing Mengzhu was a little disappointed.

Since Qing Mengzhu wanted to grow tomatoes, he also went into town and arranged for a man to come plow the field.

This time, he planned to plant two mu of tomatoes. He would get them growing first, then hire workers if he couldn't keep up with the harvest.

Tomatoes didn't take much work to tend, so even with two mu, he wouldn't be too busy.

Few people needed their fields plowed lately, so there was no wait. The man came the next day.

Qing Mengzhu spread the fermented fertilizer over the field beforehand, so the man could mix it evenly into the soil while plowing. That saved Qing Mengzhu the trouble of applying a base fertilizer.

The man had seen his share of things, but when he saw Qing Mengzhu's fermented fertilizer, he couldn't help marveling. "What kind of fertilizer is this? It's so loose and soft. Looks like good quality."

"It's made from fermented fish, with a special fermentation starter added," Qing Mengzhu said.

The man looked up at the vegetable plot next to Qing Mengzhu's house. "No wonder your vegetables grow so well."

Tan Wenlei had gotten tired from working and came over to rest and chat with them. "Mengzhu has a real gift for growing things. Even with the same seedlings, they grow especially well once they're transplanted into his field."

"His vegetables yield twice as much as other people's, don't they?" the man asked.

Tan Wenlei shook his head. "More than that, I'd say. Two or three times as much."

"That's way too exaggerated," Qing Mengzhu said from the side. "How could there be that much?"

"Not exaggerated at all," Tan Wenlei said. "Just look at your tomatoes. How much have you made selling them this month? Nearly ten thousand yuan, right?"

The man jumped in surprise. "You make that much money?!"

"His tomatoes taste good, and they sell for a high price too," Tan Wenlei said.

Qing Mengzhu did the math in his head. It really was over ten thousand, so he couldn't exactly argue. He just smiled.

Tan Wenlei had been keeping an eye on Qing Mengzhu's vegetables for a long time.

After the man finished plowing and left, he asked, "How are your tomato seeds coming along?"

"They're about ready to sprout," Qing Mengzhu said. "I'll start filling the seedling cups tomorrow."

The seedling cups could be filled with a prepared potting mix. Once the seeds were planted in them and grew big enough to transplant, the seedlings could be moved along with the soil in the cups, so their roots wouldn't be damaged.

"That was fast," Tan Wenlei said. "You're raising enough seedlings for two mu of tomatoes by yourself. You won't be able to keep up, will you? Are you hiring help?"

Qing Mengzhu nodded. "Yes. I've already talked to Auntie Feng and the others. I'm asking all three of them to help again."

Tan Wenlei rubbed his hands, a smile on his face. "Mengzhu, could I discuss something with you?"

Qing Mengzhu gestured for him to go ahead.

"When you raise the seedlings for your fall tomatoes, could you raise enough for one mu for me too?" Tan Wenlei asked. "I'll buy them from you."

Qing Mengzhu hadn't expected him to want his seedlings. After thinking it over, he said, "I don't have enough help, and filling the seedling cups takes soil. It's a bit troublesome to dig up too much from the field. Uncle Wenlei, if you don't mind, you can take some of my seeds and raise the seedlings yourself. I have quite a few left from the ones I prepared earlier."

Tan Wenlei wasn't greedy. He was happy enough to get the seeds. "I don't mind, not at all! Then can I go back with you to get them in a bit?"

"Sure!" Qing Mengzhu readily agreed. "I'll give you the seeds I have left."

Chapter 25

Qing Mengzhu hired people to fill the seedling cups for the tomato seeds, but he mixed the soil himself.

According to his reference book, tomatoes preferred slightly acidic soil, ideally with a pH of 6 to 7. The soil also needed to be fertile, loose, and well aerated.

So he mixed soil from the field with sawdust and fermented fertilizer to make a suitable mix.

To adjust the acidity, he also made a point of testing it with a pH meter.

Tan Wenlei watched him mixing soil in the field, sweat pouring off him, and was rather puzzled. "Weren't the tomatoes you grew in the first half of the year good enough? Each plant was like a tree. I've grown tomatoes for years, and I've never seen anyone's plants grow bigger than yours."

Qing Mengzhu kept working with his shovel. "I'm striving for excellence, trying to make them a little better."

"How much better can they get?" Tan Wenlei said. "If your plants bore any more tomatoes, I reckon the branches would be dragged down to the ground."

Tomato branches had a high water content and were relatively brittle. Too much fruit really could weigh them down and snap them, so they all had to put stakes beside their tomato plants to support them as they grew.

Qing Mengzhu wasn't worried about that at all. "No problem. If they really bear that many tomatoes, I'll build a frame with crossbars and let the plants grow on it."

Only after Qing Mengzhu had finished mixing the soil did Feng Ningxiang and the other two come over to fill the seedling cups.

Filling the cups meant bending over, so they had brought little stools to sit on while they worked in the field.

Three people were enough to fill the seedling cups for two mu.

They told Qing Mengzhu to go take care of his own business. "Leave this to us. We'll make sure they're all filled properly."

Qing Mengzhu smiled. "Then I'll go pull weeds in the vegetable plot next door."

Qing Mengzhu didn't use herbicides on his vegetables, and he watered and fertilized them frequently. The weeds in the field grew fast, even faster than the vegetables.

He had even bought a weeder, which he pushed noisily around the field every day. Otherwise, he could never have kept up by pulling the weeds by hand.

Fortunately, the weeds he removed didn't go to waste. The fresh, tender ones could be chopped up and fed to the ducks and hazel grouse, while the older ones went straight into the compost bin.

There had been so much material to compost lately that Qing Mengzhu had emptied the compost bin several times, taking out all the fertilizer and putting fresh material in to compost.

He diluted the fertilizer he took out with water and poured it straight onto the vegetable or chili plots, creating a virtuous cycle.

As he cut the grass, the ducks in the neighboring pond caught its scent. One after another, they flapped up onto the embankment, stretched their necks to look over, and quacked.

Feng Ningxiang looked up from her work and couldn't help exclaiming, "Look how well you've raised those ducks. They're so big and plump they don't even look like spotted ducks anymore."

"The duck seller said they were spotted ducks, but that doesn't necessarily mean they really are," Qing Mengzhu said. "They might be mixed with another breed."

Feng Ningxiang took a closer look. "I don't think so. They look like purebred spotted ducks to me."

"Then I've just raised them well," Qing Mengzhu said. "They're over two months old now, nearly ready to eat."

The ducklings he had bought were already a month old. He had bought them in early May, and now it was mid-June. The ducks were almost ready for market.

Feng Ningxiang did the math in her head. "They really are. They'll be just right to eat when we harvest the early rice."

Hearing that he had started talking about them, Qing Yuqin asked, "You keep the ducks in the pond. Don't they eat the lotus leaves and flowers?"

"They do, but not much," Qing Mengzhu said. "There are fish and shrimp in the pond, and I feed them vegetables and grain once a day. They don't like eating lotus leaves and flowers."

He had observed them before and only put them in the pond after making sure they didn't eat many lotus leaves.

The lotus leaves were worth much more than the ducks. If the ducks ate them all, it would be a terrible loss.

Qing Yuqin nodded after hearing that. "That's good, then. Your lotus flowers are so beautiful. It would be such a shame if the ducks ate them."

Qing Mengzhu's lotuses had been growing for two months now, from the time he raised them from seed to when they were planted out. They had only just put out small buds, a little later than other people's lotuses.

But his lotus buds were pointed and fiery red, looking like rubies scattered across the ponds. They were beautiful.

If the ducks ate them, everyone would probably think it a terrible waste.

Everyone chatted as their hands worked quickly.

After Qing Mengzhu finished weeding, he remembered the lotus flowers they had just been talking about and couldn't resist going over to the ponds to look.

With plenty of fertilizer, his lotuses had grown well. They now filled both ponds, their leaves almost completely covering the water.