Chapter 160: Is Preparing Beds and Laying Mulch Important? It Certainly Is!

It seems the bed preparation and plastic mulching were overlooked!

This is the final, yet crucial, step that Zhong Di had neglected. Without preparing planting beds and laying down mulch, what was he supposed to do next? It felt like preparing for a barbecue—charcoal, food, oil, and seasonings all laid out—only to realize, for heaven’s sake, there was no lighter. That is exactly what it felt like.

Are bed preparation and mulching important? Absolutely!

(Note: A "bed" is a small planting area for crops, separated by soil ridges, furrows, or paths, categorized into flat beds and raised beds. They are typically created using bed-formers, plows, hoes, or shovels.)

Just like the barbecue analogy: is a lighter important? Without one, are you supposed to resort to rubbing sticks together to make fire? Or use a flint or a traditional fire-starter?

Without preparing beds and laying mulch, you could technically force the planting, but the result would be poor survival rates and difficulty in later management—essentially, it would be a massive headache. Just like the barbecue, you could technically get a fire going with friction or some bizarre method, but nothing beats the speed and ease of a simple click of a lighter.

Under normal circumstances, beyond moisture retention and improving seedling survival, the benefits of bed preparation and mulching are often invisible. Let me give you two simple examples.

After forming beds, the increased surface area of the soil allows it to warm up rapidly and retain more heat. This effect is negligible in summer but proves invaluable during winter and spring. Furthermore, the increased surface area leads to higher soil temperatures; combined with plastic mulch—where the soil is warm but the air is cool—it encourages root growth to outpace foliage development.

Another advantage is drainage. In flat-ground planting, water usually pools in certain areas or lower spots after irrigation. This leads to waterlogged soil, reduced oxygen levels, and root rot due to the difficulty of aerobic respiration. These are the invisible benefits. I won’t even go into how mulching reduces the impact of irrigation on the greenhouse environment, such as lowering humidity and infinitely reducing the likelihood of fungal diseases.

With such significant advantages, how could he have forgotten? While he could wait until the seedlings arrived to prepare the beds, it would inevitably cause delays. After noting this down, Zhong Di began calculating the data in his mind.

Different fruit trees require different bed widths. For something like dragon fruit, an eighty-centimeter width is sufficient, but trees like bananas require more space. Simply put, smaller trees need narrower beds, and larger trees need wider ones. Zhong Di quickly calculated the widths based on the fruit trees he had purchased, even adding a little extra buffer.

This way, it would be easier to manage the trees as they grew, and he could even fit in some nursery work in between. Perfect.

These figures would certainly need to be handed over to Shao Hong. Don't let the simplicity of "making beds" fool you; it is easy to do, but difficult to do well. Moreover, this work would take quite a long time to complete.

*Hoo!*

He felt an inexplicable sense of relief. In agricultural production, this often happens—sometimes you are in the middle of a task and suddenly feel like something is off. It might not be a trick of the mind; it could be real. If you check everything one by one, you will likely find an issue. In reality, this is a form of cerebral cortex memory developed through long-term agricultural work. It is like an acquired instinct; if something is left undone, it just doesn't feel right. It is like walking along while thinking, suddenly feeling something is wrong, stopping, and realizing, "Oh... for heaven's sake, I didn't wait for the red light."

After handing the recorded data to Shao Hong, Zhong Di returned to eating various seafood with Xiaoxi.

"Sis, we can start promoting our dates ahead of schedule. Let's set the pre-sale for September 15th. What do you think?"

In the last two days, the jujubes had been turning red in increasing numbers. According to Zhong Di’s initial estimates, they would need at least another half-month to gradually ripen. This was based on normal fruit-setting conditions; because their fruit-setting had been delayed, he expected the harvest to be even later. To his surprise, not only was there no delay, but they were actually a week early.

"Hmm... if you hadn't mentioned it, I would have asked. I tasted the dates; they taste much better than winter dates."

"Alright, let's go with the pre-sale. We can set a higher purchase limit at first, but the moment we spot scalpers, we’ll plug those loopholes immediately."

His sister had become quite experienced in limiting purchases and preventing scalpers. There were always scalpers for their farm products; even with their current, airtight rules, someone would always find a way around them. Still, loopholes or not, they had to crack down on the scalper gangs.

"Some customers have been walking in and picking dates to eat. Should we set a rule? If everyone eats a few, it adds up to quite a significant amount!"

"Eating dates?" Zhong Di paused. He hadn't noticed that, but thinking about it, since their dates tasted so good, it was only natural for people to eat a few. "It's fine, don't worry about it. As long as it isn't excessive, eating a few is no problem."

After discussing a few more details, his sister went off to handle her tasks, as there were still some deliveries to pick up in the afternoon.

"Uncle, what are you and Mommy talking about?"

"We were talking about how to punish Xiaoxi tonight!"

The moment Zhong Di finished his sentence, Xiaoxi’s expression changed instantly. The oyster meat in her hand no longer tasted good, and she began to pout, on the verge of tears.

"Uncle is a big meanie! Uncle and Mommy are both annoying!"

"Alright, I'm just teasing you. Eat up." Zhong Di placed a piece of moon scallop meat onto Xiaoxi’s plate and then popped a piece into his own mouth.

***

Kulun City Agricultural Research Institute!

At this moment, within a grey jujube orchard experimental base, several people were busy at work. Some were counting dates, some were observing the wounds from girdling and ring-barking, some were verifying figures, and others were recording information. Everyone was occupied with their own tasks.

"Jujube cluster count: 7. Fruit-setting rate..."

"Ring-barking recovery status..."

From time to time, someone would call out figures and conclusions, which were then recorded by the designated person. Each performed their duty, the whole operation functioning like an anthill—a collaborative effort.

Soon, they all gathered and handed their materials to a middle-aged man. The top sheet was a grand summary of all the data, covering every item and conclusion, while the documents beneath contained the specific details for each project. The purpose was to enable statistical analysis, so that if any item showed an issue, they could trace it back to the source.

Although big data cannot yet be fully implemented in agriculture, small-scale statistical analysis is perfectly feasible.

This middle-aged man was Zhou Zheng, the very person who had previously remarked that the technical materials Zhong Di wrote were crude. Zhou Zheng examined the papers carefully. The more he read, the more amazed he became, and the deeper his realization grew.

He steadied himself and said softly, "Contact this farm. I must have the contact information of the person who wrote this article. I am going to pay them a visit."