Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 785 Watermelon

Two days later, the group arrived in Changwu Prefecture. This year, fifteen or sixteen acres of watermelons were planted in Changwu Prefecture.

At this time, the watermelon fields are full of green leaves and branches, and round watermelons are scattered among the branches. The watermelons have slightly yellow skin where they touch the ground. It seems that they are well maintained.

Hua Lei went down to the field himself, patted several watermelons, picked a few, picked them up, and handed them to the people behind him.

The spherical watermelon with green skin and patterns weighs about 13 or 14 pounds. The stem is slightly curved, the eye is compact, and the skin has clear lines.

A few people went to the melon shed guarding the watermelons by the field and sat down to rest. Because they didn't bring any knives, Rong Jin simply chopped the watermelon lightly, breaking it into pieces.

An irregular piece of watermelon was handed to Hualei again. The red flesh was embedded with black watermelon seeds, and the juice flowing out made Hualei's hands sticky.

A light bite, the juice overflows, sweet and crisp, it is really delicious, Hualei can't help but take another bite. In this hot day, eating a piece of watermelon is really thirst-quenching.

It's a pity that there is no refrigerator here, otherwise, if the watermelon is put in the refrigerator for a while, the taste will be even better. Rong Jin, Yu Zhizhou, Liu Yiguan and others on the side also took a bite of the watermelon, and all raised their mouths with satisfaction.

The few watermelons picked from the flower buds all have bright red flesh and black seeds, and are all ripe watermelons.

"Sir, these melons are all ripe. I saw you patting this melon and that melon just now. Are you picking the melons?" Yu Zhizhou put down a piece of melon rind in his hand and asked Hua Lei.

“Yes, although they are all planted in the same batch, some watermelons mature early and some mature late, with a gap of a few days between them. So when selling them, you have to be selective and try to sell the ripe ones first.

If it is not ripe, let it grow for a few more days and get more sun exposure, and it will be ripe. "Although Hualei did not grow watermelons in his previous life, he often bought watermelons in the summer, so he had rich experience in choosing watermelons.

"Then how do you tell whether a watermelon is ripe?" Yu Zhizhou asked carefully. For Yu Zhizhou, who had never grown or eaten watermelons, this was also his blind spot in knowledge.

Hualei smiled, took a watermelon that had not been split open, and said, "Generally speaking, look at the rind first. If the rind has clear lines and there are obvious depressions at the navel and stem, it is generally ripe.

Then tap it gently with your hands. If the sound is dull, then the watermelon may not be fully ripe; if the sound is crisp, then the watermelon is ripe.

As Hualei spoke, he tapped the watermelon, which made a relatively clean and refreshing sound. Yu Zhizhou also leaned over, tapped the watermelon, and nodded.

"Zhou Zhizhou, why don't you go to the melon field and pick a melon to test whether it is correct?" Hua Lei is not shy about his experience and encourages his subordinates to actively try.

So, Yu Zhizhou turned around and went to the melon field, walked around in the field, patted this and that, and after a cup of tea, he returned to the melon shed carrying two watermelons.

I opened two watermelons myself. One had bright red flesh and was juicy, which was very good. The other had a lighter pink flesh, but it was still edible.

"Very good, this one is just ripe enough. You can eat it now. If it grows for another three or four days, it may be even better. Look, the navel of this melon is not sunken enough." Hualei commented truthfully.

"I understand, thank you, sir." Prefect Yu sincerely admired Hua Lei's insight.

Wan Tong, the judge standing by, looked at the flower buds and asked carefully, "Excuse me, sir, do we also need to rotate the watermelon fields next year?

Earlier, when we were planting rice, wheat, and so on, you asked us to rotate crops. You said that Shangjing City and several prefectures in Jiangnan all did the same thing, and that it could increase crop yields. Is it the same for planting watermelons?"

Hualei nodded and said, "Yes, it is better to rotate crops, especially now that the field is not fertile enough, it is even more necessary to rotate crops.

Because each crop has different requirements for soil, crop rotation can maintain, restore and improve soil fertility, balance the use of soil nutrients and water, and reduce pests and diseases.

The same principle applies to growing watermelons. If watermelons are planted continuously, the soil fertility will decline, the growth will weaken, and the fruit will become smaller.

It is also prone to wilt disease, which can even cause the entire watermelon plant to wither and die, resulting in reduced or even total watermelon production, so rotation is also necessary."

Wan Tongpan nodded thoughtfully, paused and asked again, "Then may I ask, sir, when we were planting sorghum before?

You also had people plant a lot of low-growing green leafy vegetables among the sorghum, saying this is intercropping. What's the logic behind this? Aren't you afraid that the crops will rob each other of their fertility?"

Hualei smiled and said, "No, in fact, intercropping and crop rotation are both for increasing crop yields. However, crop rotation is to plant different crops on the same piece of land in different seasons or at different times.

However, intercropping is planting two or more crops on the same piece of land, in the same growing season or at the same time, according to the different needs of each crop for the soil, so as to achieve multiple harvests in one year.

The biggest feature of intercropping is the clever arrangement of the planting layout of crops so that they are staggered and arranged in alternating rows.

This will not only help improve the ventilation and air permeability between crops, but also effectively improve the photosynthesis efficiency of crops and maximize the use of light energy.

For example, if sorghum stalks are relatively tall, we can increase the distance between them appropriately, and interplant some vegetables with shorter plants and some bean crops, so that these shorter crops can also get sunlight and grow.

This method can also fully tap the growth potential of marginal areas and achieve the goal of increasing production and income. By rationally matching different crops, we can make more efficient use of limited land and resources. "Hua Lei whispered.

After a pause, he continued, "Speaking of intercropping, another planting method can be derived, which is called "intercropping". Intercropping is to plant another crop when a certain crop grows to a later stage.

By the time the second crop grows, the first crop has already been harvested. This can also maximize the utilization rate of the soil.

Moreover, if some crops are interplanted or intercropped, not only will they not affect each other, but they will also promote each other's growth. We call this phenomenon the "co-prosperity" phenomenon.