The young man who used to grow vegetables at QQ Farm has started to grow vegetables on the balcony

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Text/Zoe

Source: Hedgehog Commune (ID: ciweigongshe)

In 2022, the DNA of young people’s vegetable cultivation will move again?

Whose vegetable DNA moved? The young people who used to grow vegetables at QQ Farm have started to grow vegetables on the balcony again.

In the post-epidemic era, boredom at home has prompted more people to take the initiative to find ways to spend their time, and planting something at home seems to be an important seasoning for young people’s pastime. Everyone wants to create a scene: there are a few potted plants on the balcony. When the harvest season, the fruit is covered with branches, the vegetables are green and leafy, the sun is pouring from the window, and you can taste the vegetables and fruits that you have grown by yourself.

According to an e-commerce platform’s 2022 618 consumption trend report, the consumption of green plants will increase by 160% this year, and the planting of potted plants will increase by 1200%. It can be seen that the young people’s planting heart, after being provoked at home, has been unable to hold back.

Taking this opportunity, Hedgehog Commune (ID: ciweigongshe) chatted with several young people about their balcony planting.

People take food as their heaven

Taco entered the game to grow vegetables because she experienced a zero-distance eating from the field to the dining table. The taste of that time made her fresh in her memory. Every time she recalled, she would sigh, “It’s so fresh, how can it be so delicious.”

Delicious memories have been motivating her to try growing vegetables. A few years ago, she had an accidental encounter with gourd seedlings in the vegetable market, which started her road of growing vegetables. Due to her rich experience in planting flowers, her gourd seedlings have successfully grown fruit. Taco is very proud and shows off with her friends everywhere.

Since then, the scale of Taco’s vegetable garden has grown. Cucumbers, corn, tomatoes, more and more vegetables and fruits have become a member of her cultivation, and they have also become delicious dishes at home. Taco said frankly that growing vegetables is entirely because of his greed, and he likes the sweetness of fresh vegetables. “For example, if you put corn in the refrigerator overnight, and eat it the next day, the taste will be greatly reduced. You just picked it and boiled it in water. It’s fresh, sweet and glutinous. It’s really much better than the one in the vegetable market.”

taco’s plantation consists of two areas, a 6-square-meter balcony and a 14-square-meter roof terrace. The balcony grows cabbage and color pepper ornamental vegetables, and the terrace grows vegetables that need space to grow. The planting of the two areas has helped her to achieve vegetable freedom for the whole family. June is the harvest season. On an ordinary morning, she can harvest about six kilograms of vegetables. At present, the overfilling of vegetables has led taco to reduce the variety of vegetables and start to try small fruits such as grapefruit and lemon.

On a daily basis, taco spends more time taking care of these “delicious things”. In the morning, she will spend 20 minutes picking, pollinating, and deworming; in the evening, she will water and fertilize for 20 minutes; on weekends, she will have a fixed two-hour pruning, soil replacement and transplanting, and sanitation activities. Taco enjoys spending time with the plants. “When you have accumulated a day’s work pressure and are in a bad mood, you can water and prune them to relax your head and ease your mood, so that you won’t quarrel with your family.”

Along the way, taco also enjoyed the fun of “upgrading and fighting monsters” and passing through various “difficulties”. For two or three years in a row, the tomatoes grown by taco did not grow very large. Every time they grew to the size of a ping-pong ball, they began to curl and turn yellow, and finally withered. Taco was puzzled and wanted to know what was wrong with the tomatoes, but the various answers on the Internet did not help her solve the problem.

By chance, she turned to a friend from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences for help, and she gained new knowledge: the land needs to be planted in rotation. It turned out that taco planted tomatoes here every year because taco identified a sunny spot that was very suitable for tomato growth. But the continuous cultivation of one crop on the land depletes the soil fertility, so the tomatoes wilt every certain period. After taco knew the reason and replaced the soil here, the problem was solved.

Similar experiences of “killing monsters” over and over again made taco realize that she needs professional knowledge to plant scientifically, understand the principles, and solve problems more easily. So over the years, she has been exposed to soil science, botany, and microbiology, and has been upgraded from a bronze white to a vegetable gardener.

With rich vegetable growing experience, taco has harvested many vegetable growing “apprentices”. taco will often share solutions to the problems of novice growing vegetables on social platforms, and will also remind novice farmers in the vegetable growing group to pay attention to the problems that need to be paid attention to, such as buying early-maturing varieties of crops and low-growing varieties, so as to adapt to the growing environment of urban balconies.

“Basically, when I plant with me for half a year, I can achieve a certain amount of vegetable freedom.” During the harvest season in June, taco said bluntly, “It’s a great sense of achievement.”

Tian Tian started growing vegetables at home in September 2021, and now has achieved vegetable freedom for the whole family. But her vegetables are grown in planters.

Tiantian started with a small planter worth more than 300 yuan, with 12 planting pits. At that time, I just wanted to try it out and have fun. Until she discovered a large planting machine every day in a hot pot restaurant in Chongqing, the experience of picking and eating in the store immediately moved her heart, and immediately asked the store to call the manufacturer of the machine, inquired and placed an order, all in one go.

In retrospect, Tian Tian felt that it was actually a kind of impulsive consumption. But in the second month after receiving the large planter, I started to work from home every day, and the role of the planter began to become prominent. The harvest of vegetables in the planter makes friends envious, and makes Tian Tian no longer regret his impulse.

In the process of cultivating vegetables, the planter does not require too complicated operations. Put the seeds in the breeding tank at the lower end, and when the seedlings grow out, transplant them to the upper growth tank, set the length of the supplementary light, fill the water tank with water, add nutrient solution dropwise, and add the automatic water pump cycle, which can be used for almost a month. “Saving the Handsman”. Due to the long exposure time of light, the growth period of plants is also shorter than that of soil culture, which is very suitable for office workers.

Apart from that, what I like most about the planter is that it is clean and free of bugs. In this way, it will not have any effect when placed indoors, but it will grow green and neat, like a green plant.

Planters also have an annoying side. For example, due to their large size and many layers of detail, cleaning every two months takes about two hours a day. Moreover, the planter also has certain restrictions on the types of seeds to be planted, and it is only suitable for the growth of low plants.

After calculating an account every day, the daily electricity bill for one kilowatt-hour of electricity, as well as consumables such as nutrient solution, plus the cost of the planting machine of three or four thousand, it may be difficult for her to “return the cost”. But she feels that the fun of planting is greater, the sense of accomplishment from planting, and the deliciousness of eating can cover the money spent on it.

“Going back to a hot pot restaurant in Chongqing, I might still decide to buy it,” Tian Tian said.

Delicious

Planting vegetables is a pleasure to eat, and planting flowers is a pleasure for the eyes.

Influenced by the flower atmosphere of his hometown, Xiao Maqing, who lives in Lijiang, Yunnan, has been fond of flowers since he was a child. After graduating and returning home in 2018, she officially started her own flower growing career.

Xiao Maqing enjoys the whole process of planting flowers, from a seed to its rooting and germination, watering and fertilizing, repotting and transplanting, and finally blooming. In her opinion, this process is very healing and joyful.

From being addicted to succulents at the beginning, to falling in love with roses later, Xiao Maqing’s collection habit was constantly aroused by beautiful flowers, coupled with the assistance of Yunnan as a “horticultural opening and hanging area”, now, the number of flowers at home is close to thousands, Later, some vegetable varieties were gradually added. These plants were planted in the glass house on the top floor, the courtyard of the home and the green belt outside the courtyard gate.

In order to take good care of these flowers, Maqing spends two hours a day paying attention to them, and often spends most of the weekend with them on weekends. She seldom takes care of the ground plants outside the door. First, because the soil has better water storage capacity and is suitable for relying on the sky, and second, the drip irrigation pipes have been installed before, which can save a lot of effort.

The busiest season is during the sowing period, including spring and autumn. Xiao Maqing believes that these two periods are the process from seed to germination, and it is very necessary to devote one’s own energy. “I need to pay attention all the time. If I forget to water or pay attention to bugs one day, it will easily die. “

Insects are the most troublesome thing for Xiao Maqing. Especially in the glass house on the roof, where the temperature is high, she has to fight against insects every April and May. However, she has been “field-experienced”. The vegetables she grows are generally sprayed with pepper water, garlic water, essential oils, etc. for prevention, and the flowers and plants that she grows can be sprayed with anthers.

During flowering, plants need more nutrients, especially fertilizers. During this time, Xiao Maqing added some water-soluble fertilizers when watering them every day to supplement them with nutrients and accompany them to bloom.

Every time he takes care of the flowers, Xiao Maqing can be moved by the vitality of the details of the plants: “Growing flowers not only allows us to reap a beautiful piece, but also heals ourselves in the process of taking care of the plants. It may not be that we are raising Flowers, but flowers nourish us.”

Unlike Xiao Maqing who likes to enjoy flowers, Leah likes to enjoy leaves.

Before 2019, in Leah’s eyes, planting something was still the operation of the older generation. But 19 years later, leah also joined the planting army. The change in leah’s concept is due to the fact that he often brushes tropical foliage plants on social platforms, wants to add a touch of green to his home, and has a small tree in a limited space. In this way, Leah decided to keep a pot of her own.

After doing a lot of homework, leah decided to start the piano Yerong. She inquired a lot about Qin Yerong’s living habits and growth conditions, and determined to keep it well. Now, the first pot of Qin Yerong is more than one meter high.

Later, leah started to buy more than 60 pots of hot foliage plants one after another. Foliage plants, as the name suggests, are the most attractive for their leaves, compared to their flowers which are slightly less ornamental.

Leah’s favorite is the evergreen model in the thermal planting world – Ming-veined Philodendron, the velvety leaves are very ornamental. Leah thought it would be very delicate, but he didn’t expect it to be very difficult to maintain, rarely had health problems, and grew quickly.

In just over a year, a leaf has increased to more than a dozen, because the flowerpot it carries can no longer bear its huge body; each leaf is half a meter long, and there is not enough space in the home, so leah “tears” it. Cut in sections and transplant into several pots.

leah takes her plants very seriously. It takes about 20 minutes on a working day to observe the state of the plants and conduct simple watering and maintenance. On weekends, leah spends almost all day around the plants, and in addition to watering and fertilizing, she likes to wipe the leaves. In addition, the time for cutting and transplanting will be very busy when changing pots and soil in spring.

In order to better maintain the hot plants and create a suitable environment for them, leah equipped the hot plants with humidifiers and air circulation fans. But she believes that this is not a must, and it is up to people to be frugal.

When it comes to hard pots and soil, leah feels the need to “put your money where your mouth is”. “Especially soil, it’s a bit like a person’s food. If you give good food, the person’s body will be relatively much better. Soil is actually the same for plants. There will be some shoddy soil in the market, so it’s better to have more. Spend some money on branded soil.”

However, Leah admitted that flower pots, soil, and home appliances are all her personal consumption habits. If you are new to planting, you don’t need to do this at all. It is more necessary to enjoy the relaxation and healing obtained in the process of caring for and observing plants, a small corner where you can really relax.

“tide” plants

An Zhen Zhang Puppy has his own radius for the choice of plants. He likes new and unseen, rare and unknown things. At present, almost 100 pots of foliage plants and root plants in the home have these characteristics.

Root plants are closely related to trendy brands. Takizawa Shinsuke, the manager of the Japanese trendy brand Neighborhood, influenced the trend circle with his involvement in root plants, which was fueled by this and gradually became a net red plant. An Zhen and Zhang Puppy’s purchase of root plants was also influenced by friends in the fashion circle around him.

It is a succulent root plant that generally grows in arid regions of Africa and the Americas. Due to the growth environment, its roots are large, the branches and leaves are sparse, and the appearance is peculiar and diverse. Even the tuberous roots of the same variety will grow very differently due to various factors. This is also the case, the root plant holds an admission ticket to the trend circle – becoming a kind of “weird shape” trend ornament.

As an ornament, in addition to being ornamental, it also needs to be conscious of not being taken care of. In the eyes of An Zhen and Zhang Puppies, root plants are very worry-free plants, and maintenance is not difficult, “Maybe you will be fine if you don’t water it for a month, because it can store this water in its own ‘belly’. , to store these nutrients.”

For young people “struggling” in the concrete forest, they need to face the problem of balancing career and cultivation. Busy work will reduce the time for plant maintenance, so among the 100 or so pots of plants in An Zhenzhang’s dog’s house, root plants that do not need frequent care account for half of them.

Well-maintained root plants, but the price is not so intimate. As a root plant with a developed root system, it needs to be transported over a long distance to reach the country. Using various means to protect the root system during transportation is an invisible increase in cost, plus its slow growth rate of only a few centimeters a year. , the price of adult tuberous roots of rare varieties is often in the four digits.

An Zhenzhang puppy will not start with such an expensive breed. In his opinion, people who need to grow do not need to buy large adult plants. His root plants are very small and cost around a few hundred dollars.

The low survival rate of root seeds is another factor that contributes to their high prices. Seeing that many hard-core players are breeding, An Zhen and Zhang Puppy also bought 60-150 seeds each, but the survival rate of the seeds is very low, and so far there are almost no successes for more than a dozen seeds. He admitted that breeding would be his own growing direction, and that the fun would be even greater.

The other half of Anzhen Zhang’s puppy plants are foliage plants. Like leah, they were influenced by bloggers on social platforms and gradually liked foliage plants. The maintenance of foliage plants did not bother him too much. Unlike root plants, which are naturally good for growth, foliage plants are more complicated to maintain and have higher requirements on the environment. In order to meet the environmental conditions and relieve his mind of maintenance, An Zhen and Zhang Puppy, like Leah, equipped the hot plants with a set of small appliances.

Fill light is used to meet the needs of plants for light; humidifiers and rainforest tanks meet the high humidity needs of plants; circulating fans are used to accelerate air circulation. Such a set of fully automatic systems are responsible for taking care of the growth of plants. An Zhen and Zhang Puppy only need to assist the household appliances on weekends, and they can sit in a green house.

Seeing that many people can turn cultivation into a business, An Zhen Zhang Puppy finds it very interesting. He once met a flower friend in Shenyang. He caught up with the planting boom last year and earned nearly one million by growing his own plants. Today, many of his plants are growing satisfactorily. They are constantly transplanted and transplanted, and occasionally they are sold to flower friends who communicate with each other.

But this “business” is not easy to do, and the survival rate of some plant cuttings will be very low. An Zhen Zhang’s dog has some white brocade monstera, which is very rare. The appearance of Jinhua is that the huge leaves will randomly appear white stripes, and this pattern is actually the “albinism” of the plant. Because this variety is cultivated in a pile of healthy monstera, it is very random, and the survival rate of cuttings is also low. Only after the cuttings take root, can they continue to grow, so it is difficult to cultivate.

Last month, An Zhenzhang Puppy cut off a few leaves of white-colored monstera, and when they shared it, they were scrambled to order by flower friends from all over the world. However, the root systems of several trees did not grow well. When he pulled them out, he found that the root systems were rotten, and he hurriedly contacted the buyer to cancel the order. “These cuttings have not been raised, and they will still die in their hands. I have suffered such a loss.”

An Zhen Zhang Puppy once bought 800 yuan a piece of monstera with golden leaves from a flower friend. I don’t know whether it was due to the lack of water for too long during transportation, or the root system was not growing well. When the leaves arrived, 90% of the leaves were rotten, and only 90% of the leaves were left. under 10% green. However, due to the good growth environment such as humidity, temperature, and ventilation at home, after seven or eight months of careful maintenance, the “sleeping” leaves were finally “awakened” and began to grow new leaves.

“So this leaf does not mean that everyone will live if you get it.” An Zhen Zhang’s dog’s suggestion is that you must buy cuttings from trusted flower friends, and it is best to be close to your home to ensure overall growth. The environment is the same. Otherwise, it is easy to waste money.

The cost of transporting plants is also a lot of overhead. In order to prevent the leaves from being crushed, logistics often use boxes that are much larger than the leaves, and put a lot of cotton in the boxes, so the transportation is not only large, but also the transportation cost is often 100 yuan. about.

An Zhen and Zhang’s puppy’s tubers and hot plants live in his home in separate districts. Plants that are slightly delicate and accustomed to living in high humidity live in rainforest tanks, equipped with lighting equipment, and only need to spray water regularly to maintain humidity; plants with moderate humidity share the room area with him; plants that do not like light have a small basement; tuberous roots Desert-like plants prefer south balconies because they are sunny and dry.

For An Zhen and Zhang Puppy, the most favorite state in the maintenance process is the unknown when facing new things. In his eyes, the maintenance of many foliage plants is like “opening a blind box”, with great randomness. He will not predict where the “white brocade” of the white-colored monstera will be on the next leaf, nor will he predict the shape and size of the next leaf. All he can do is satisfy its living conditions and find surprises at any time. .

Being able to cultivate and grow exotic plants is also the joy of An Zhenzhang’s puppy cultivation. Like Anka spurge in the root variety, this plant only grows in the Custer Stone Forest in the northwest of Madagascar, among the steep rocks. The unique geographical attribute makes Anzhen Zhang puppy feel the magic of raising it in Beijing. with fun.

Different from ordinary plant flowerpots, An Zhenzhang Puppies also introduced to Hedgehog Commune the distinctiveness of root circle flowerpots. Some shapes that are too slender or too shallow can be seen everywhere, and they seem to be telling from top to bottom: I am very tide. But this is not for plant growth, just for decoration or to show the owner’s aesthetic style.

“Fortunately, the root plant is quite strong. If you give it a pot of any shape, it will concave the root into a shape, so it is not a big problem.” Anzhen Zhang Xiaodog said.

From this point of view, young people who plant plants, plant different seeds, and reap different moods. But they still have the same goal – enjoy the planting process, and look forward to a pot of garlic seedlings, chicken feathers, and a pot of small green plants for 5 yuan from the person who takes care of a seed and a seedling. .

The respondents in the article are all nicknames on social platforms, thanks to taco, Tiantian, Xiaomaqing, leah, Anzhen Zhangpuppies.

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