Wu Boxiao
It is better to grow flowers than vegetables. The flowers are well planted, and the garden is colorful and fragrant, which can be appreciated; Carefully planted vegetables, green stems and leaves, fat tubers and juicy fruits can all be eaten. As the saying goes, "fruits and vegetables are food for half a year."
I remember the vegetable garden we planted in Lanjiaping, Yan 'an.
It's a vegetable garden, but it's actually an orchard. There are many peach and apricot trees in that garden, as well as Haitang. Every spring in February and March, pink peach blossoms are in full bloom, and soon the gorgeous begonia flowers against the green leaves are very lively. When the fruit is ripe, apricot is water apricot, peach is peach, and begonia is hanging beads, which is also a prosperous scene.
Orchard is also a garden. There are many kinds of flowers in the garden. There are roses, hibiscus, cloves, impatiens, carnations, cordate telosma, Jiangxi wax, BBK, ... grass flowers, which are not expensive, but grow luxuriantly and pungent. On both sides of Yonglu, around vegetable fields, there are corners of the garden everywhere. The most lush and spicy grass flower is cosmos. It also blooms for a long time, which can decorate the whole autumn. This is very similar to wild chrysanthemum. It seems reasonable that this flower is called chrysanthemum.
To say garden is to open a gap in the garden. Fruit trees are screens, grass flowers are fences, and there are vegetable fields in the middle. * * * There are three or five places of different sizes, all of which are fertile and sunny places, which are most suitable for growing vegetables. The place where we operate is surrounded by fruit trees on three sides and a hillside on one side; The terrain is rectangular and covers an area of about two or three minutes. It was operated by three comrades in our spare time for the collective during the period of growing vegetables. The harvested vegetables belong to group dining, and we also have a relatively rich enjoyment.
In those years, all the comrades in Yan 'an planted vegetables between work, study and fighting. The vegetables eaten by government agencies, schools and troops are almost self-sufficient. At that time, "ten sides" were not put forward, and naturally all the "ten sides" were planted. Vegetables were planted in front of caves, around bungalows, along rivers and roadsides, and even on newly opened land on individual mountains.
The vegetable fields we grow are the best in that garden. This is a mature vegetable field, which has been taken care of all the time. Half the fields are covered with leeks. Leek has perennial roots, so it doesn't need much labor (of course it takes some time). As long as fertilizing, ridging and watering, fresh, green and tender leek buds can be produced in nine minutes. The most rare thing is the vegetable field. But a nest of water can just finish watering the vegetable fields. When the accumulated water is used up, a meal can be filled again. When the water is full, it will be clear to the end, and it will not overflow or flow, which is a bit like Aquarius in fairy tales. Water is always full when used. The spring water is clear, so it can be used to water fruit trees without watering vegetables, or to wash your hair and clothes. "The turbid water of the surging waves can be enough for me". This is better than water in rough waves. Other comrades who grow vegetables have no spring water near the vegetable fields, so they have to go to Yanhe to fetch water. Unlike the three of us, we dug a narrow and shallow ditch from the vegetable field in Shitang, carried water with wicker cans and watered the vegetables as soon as we raised our hands. Everyone envies us. We will also be moved by the light of natural conditions.
"A flower in a crop depends entirely on feces." In order to accumulate feces, people take the opportunity of walking in the morning and evening to pick up feces on the road, and there are many animals coming and going on the road. "As long as you start, fertilizer sources are everywhere." Well, we invited the old farmer to give a lecture and everyone learned a lot. Sun Wanfu, the singer and peasant poet of "Tall Buildings Rise from the Ground", is one of the famous teachers. I remember he was in his sixties. I am still deeply impressed by that youthful demeanor. With those teachers, we learned to grow vegetables, melons and cigarettes. For example, when planting melons, seeds should be soaked and seedlings should be pressed, and when planting cigarettes, fork tips should be pinched. We learned a lot of practical knowledge from the teacher when we were doing it. Some people learn flue-cured tobacco and make their own exquisite cigarettes and cigars. Some learn to process vegetables, and the ketchup can be eaten until winter; Some learn to pickle and hoard vegetables, and let autumn vegetables graft with spring vegetables.
Growing vegetables is a meticulous work, "growing vegetables is like embroidery"; Hard work is also very tiring. As far as the amount of labor is concerned, "one acre of garden and ten acres of land". But growing vegetables is a very interesting thing. The pleasure of growing vegetables is not only when you eat vegetables, as Su Dongpo said in "Vegetable Soup Fu": "Take a clear spring to rub it, holding leaves and branches." Or as he said in "Qi Ju Fu": "Spring. Planting the whole border requires the greatest labor. At that time, vegetables were invisible. But "as you sow, you reap", even if you only plant hope, that kind of hope is very encouraging. Because that hope is to plant mature seeds in fertile soil, people are not lazy, as long as they work hard, they will certainly gain. It is not far from verification. From there, green, soft and strong new buds of fruits and vegetables will grow. The ranks of those new shoots and drills are neat, the number of people broadcasting is crowded, and the pride, smile and glow of on-demand are full of infinite vitality. The new bud is simply a shining pearl. " Cutting spring leeks in the rain at night is a poem by Lao Du, which is very fresh. Isn't a bed of vegetables a fresher poem?
At noon in late spring, people feel comfortable when stepping on the ridge of seedlings or weeding. The fresh smell of earth and the faint smell of vegetables are refreshing. After a while, they stood up, stretched out, and wiped the sweat on their foreheads with the back of their hands to see if the seedlings were dense, deeply ploughed and the grass was clean. At that time, people will feel tired. Or don't smoke and talk; Talking about life, talking about the transformation of society and nature, giggling and listening to the singing of insects in vegetable fields during the interval of conversation; Garlic bolting, Chinese cabbage tumbling, coriander emitting fragrance: everything makes people feel a real pastoral pleasure.