Chapter 889: 871. What to plant in a greenhouse
Although planned for the greenhouse, Song Tan still has her principles, insisting on resting during winter!
Hence, the greenhouse is only two acres large, not a sliver more.
At first glance, two acres might not seem like much; but once the structure is up, it feels like the space just opens up. Now with different sections marked off, all that’s left is the planning.
This is a big deal — the entire Lao Song’s family is involved, and even Wu Lei is called back from the cattle farm.
In his arms, he holds a milky little lamb with cream-colored hooves and snowy white fur, looking a bit fragile just after being born. Wu Lei is even more attentive than the lamb’s mother, feeding it milk and keeping it warm every day!
The sheep seem to understand his caring, as now when he enters the pen to feed them, none of them butt him in the back anymore.
The little lamb bleats softly, so milky and well-behaved, that Qiaoqiao instantly forgets about the few Ju Zi in the yard and plops down next to Wu Lei, itching to pet it.
But this eting is about serious business.
“We’ve only got two or three months, everybody think hard — what has an edge when grown in the winter greenhouse?”
Is there even any need to think about it?!
Zhang Yanping is only wearing a long-sleeved shirt in the toasty room. She glances at the gloomy weather outside and is the first to speak up:
“Waterlons! It’s gotta be waterlons! Eating waterlons around the stove!”
Song Tan, with a big stroke of her pen: “Noted, noted.” Waterlons may take 80-110 days from seeding to maturity. It’s a tight schedule, but if we start breeding them now, no problem!
Qiaoqiao raises her hand: “Can we plant strawberries? The strawberries I see on TV are all grown inside greenhouses.”
“Of course, we can!” Song Tan nods affirmatively: “Direct seeding is too late now, we’ll have to buy mature seedlings. I’ll give Professor Song a call.”
Wu Lei, who’s been raising cattle and sheep for a while, looks much more reliable and steady now. Seeing everyone making suggestions, he hesitantly offers:
“What about cucumbers?”
With the dry heat from fireplaces in winter and eating lots of at for the New Year, having so cucumbers should be ideal, right?
Song Tan considers it for a mont: “Good idea! It’s viable within 90 days, we can make it!”
We’ll have to make it, even if not!
Xin Jun thinks it over: “Then… grapes? Don’t you get bigger advantages with fruits in a greenhouse than vegetables? If we get mature grape seedlings, that should work too. Ju Zi, lemons, Emperor tangerines, they all seem feasible.”
Noted, noted! Song Tan writes down furiously.
“But let’s skip the Ju Zi — we’re planning to grow those on the hill slopes next year, along with Emperor tangerines. No need to duplicate these perennial trees in the greenhouse.”
“So… tomatoes?”
Wu Lan, who’d never dealt with greenhouses before, speaks cautiously: “The tomatoes you buy in winter don’t even taste like tomatoes. Growing so for New Year’s stir-fry with eggs would be delicious.”
Song Tan quickly takes note — not forgetting to include all the different varieties like fruit tomatoes and cherry tomatoes.
“Then… let’s plant so chili peppers too!” Seventh Uncle ponders: “Fresh chili peppers taste different than dried, indispensable in cooking.”
Chili peppers cannot endure the cold, and they’re running out of fresh ones to eat now. But with the greenhouse, they can do it!
Song Sancheng listens and feels a bit frustrated: “If that’s the case, we should’ve built more greenhouses on the mountain, vegetables would sell for a good price in winter.”
Song Tan can’t help but laugh and cry: “Dad, aren’t you tired?”
When she had just returned ho in the spring and was busy with the farming, she managed to keep everyone in the family busy with work every day, utilizing every inch of the land. Her father kept saying they were overwheld!
To think, back then, their family was so poor they could barely make ends et.
Now things are looking up; we’re not so strapped for cash anymore, and he’s suddenly full of energy.
Song Sancheng’s expression was subtle: “Well, about that… You still haven’t paid off the final amount for the house on the mountain, right? Besides, I was thinking of getting a car for both your mom and , and that’s not free, is it?”
Before Song Tan could respond, Wu Lan let out a cold snort: “What kind of car are you thinking of? With your driving skills, do you dare to buy sothing expensive? Scratch it and you’ll be in agony!”
There’s a reason why the old woman pinches pennies: “Let’s start with sothing cheap to practice with—look at Tantan’s second-hand pickup, isn’t it of good quality? If not, we could also buy one like that.”
Song Sancheng felt wronged: “I don’t want anything too expensive either…”
A car worth 100,000 should do the trick, right?
This is a topic Song Tan smartly chose not to get involved in; he quickly closed their notebook: “Alright, that’s about it. We have just two acres of land; planting just these is pretty good.”
As for choosing the varieties, she didn’t know much so she didn’t fret about it, leaving it to Professor Song instead.
But at this mont, Song Youde rembered sothing—
“Hey Tantan, how about we plant so soybeans as well? I’ll need them for making cold edama to accompany drinks when we have guests over in the winter.”
Song Tan: …
Drinking aside, cold edama is indeed delicious. She now reopens the notebook to add it back in.
…
When these requests for specific varieties were sent to Professor Song, he paused at the soybeans, then called her:
“Song Tan, you’re thinking of planting soybeans in the dead of winter, don’t you have any at ho?”
We harvested quite a lot in the sumr, and I haven’t heard they’ve run out!
Song Tan then realized: “It’s not the soybeans we’re out of, we still have plenty left. My grandfather wants to have edama to snack on while drinking.”
Speaking of alcohol, Professor Song thought about the precious bottle he had painstakingly brought back and stored in the pantry, and couldn’t help but feel his mouth water.
“Mustn’t drink, mustn’t drink, I’ve got things to do now, and getting drunk would only cause delays!”
After so thought, he replied: “There are specific varieties for edama, like Hu-Ning 95-1 and Green Sweet 2… I’ll look into it for you, try planting Hu-Ning.”
Once off the phone, he glanced again at the list of fruits and vegetables and quickly mused on where he could get ready-to-plant seedlings with heat preservation for delivery, to shorten the planting ti…
As he made inquiries, so fellow professors teased him:
“You, you! Old Song, you were so enthusiastic when you were young, but as you’ve aged, you’ve beco more conservative.”
“And about those students of yours… it’s not my place to say, but after all the teaching, you should nurture them well and arrange for them to work in the lab… Our agricultural field needs such talents!”
“But look at you, teaching only the basics, and then they all go work the fields energetically… That’s not the kind of specialized research talent we’re talking about!”
“I’ve also seen the topics you’re working on this year; it’s all practical farming. We don’t lack that kind of student!”
“The way you’re teaching… you’re not giving your students any advantage at all!”
Professor Song chuckled, not taking it to heart: “Old Yuan, I’m old now and I think it’s good enough for the kids to live stable and happy lives.”
“In the past, we preached dedication, but now the kids talk about stability, to each their own. As a teacher, I just respect their choices.”
“Scientific research requires both talent and focus, which none of my students have. They lack both the capability and the audacity, so why make them stick to unhappy tasks every day?”
“Besides, over the years, I’ve produced quite a few disciples who are seriously engaged in research, and you’ve also trained a fair number who are solid in practice. Don’t judge today’s kids with an old mindset. If he wants to learn, I’ll teach; what he wants to do, he can pursue…”
Isn’t that quite good?
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