The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

After the Lantern Festival, the festive atmosphere gradually fades.

The people began to work from sunrise to sunset again.

Although it is not time to sow yet, the work of plowing the soil and weeding is not easy.

The spring is cold and you can catch a cold if you are not careful.

Every few days, Xu would make ginger soup for her family, mainly for Zhang and Old Man Zhang.

Although they are old, they can't sit still and go out for a walk from time to time.

Xu was really afraid that the two of them might not be able to bear it and catch a cold.

From what she saw, many elderly people in the county had to hold funerals after suffering from a cold for half a month.

If something happens to the old couple, it will be a hassle to arrange the funeral and observe the mourning period.

So now she treats Zhang and Old Man Zhang very carefully, hoping that the two old people will be healthy and live a few more years.

Time flies, and it is mid-February in the blink of an eye.

It is the time when grass is growing and birds are singing.

It is also the right time to plant sweet potatoes.

Historically, because sweet potatoes are drought-resistant, high-yielding, and suitable for barren land, they gradually became a famine relief crop during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and were widely planted, especially during droughts and wars.

Even if Zhang Ping'an is not a history fan, he is very clear about the value and importance of corn, potatoes and sweet potatoes.

The main method currently used in Luzon is vine seedling cultivation, that is, propagation with sweet potato vines. In spring, the sweet potato vines stored last year are cut into small sections, each with 2 to 3 nodes, and inserted into a loose and fertile seedbed. Watering is done to keep it moist, and the vines are transplanted after taking root.

But they currently do not have sweet potato vines, so they can only use the potato tuber seedling method.

That is to use potato tubers directly for germination, but the efficiency is low and requires a warm environment, so few people in Luzon use potato tubers for germination.

These two baskets of sweet potatoes are extremely precious.

Zhang Ping'an had never worked in the fields in either his past life or this life, so he was not very good at farm work.

After listening to the opinions of several old farmers in Tianzhuang and Old Man Ding.

I also asked for the opinions of Green Bean Eyes, Fatty Wu and several other people who had been to Luzon and learned about sweet potato cultivation.

The first time he took out only one-tenth of the sweet potatoes for the experiment.

Two potato tuber seedling raising methods were compared, and the one that worked better was used.

One is indoor heat preservation and germination.

Select potato tubers with smooth skin, no diseases or frostbite, and ensure that there are intact buds on the potato tubers. Spread dry straw in a windproof and sunny house, arrange the potato tubers on it, and then cover them with a layer of straw to keep warm and germinate.

Check regularly every day and sprinkle a small amount of water. It will germinate in about 15 to 20 days.

The other is open-field seedling cultivation.

That is, choose a sunny place sheltered from the wind to build ridges, dig shallow furrows on the ridges, place the potatoes obliquely in the furrows, and cover with 2 to 3 cm of soil.

Then cover the ridge surface with rice straw or stalks to keep warm and prevent weeds.

The germination time is about the same.

After everyone finished all these carefully.

Just wait and see the results in ten days.

The best result is success at the first try, then the remaining sweet potatoes can be germinated as soon as possible using this method, so that more can be planted.

The worst-case scenario is that they fail this time, but it is only mid-February and there is still time for them to improve and strive for the next time.

I have to say that Old Man Ding is indeed an expert in this area. Although he is old, he has rich experience in planting. I heard that he has come into contact with many exotic flowers and plants.

After listening to Green Bean Eyes and others talk about the planting method, you can roughly figure out the preferences of sweet potatoes.

It’s pretty much the same as what Zhang Ping’an knew.

He had originally planned to add some points he knew about sweet potatoes, but in the end, none of them were useful.