Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

Liu Gen got into university, so his workstation was used by his mother, Aunt Tian.

With one family member working a regular job and the other a college graduate, the Tian family's fortunes had completely turned around. To express her gratitude, Aunt Tian even bought some gifts for Zhang Dabiao.

After declining several times, Zhang Dabiao finally accepted the gift, but returned the money.

Li Huaide also received news that an old quality inspector was preparing to retire due to illness at the end of the month. In reality, he was going to go to the south with his son, so Li Huaide intercepted him and transferred his work position to Mu Wanqing, so that he could get a little more money.

Mu Wanqing can come over in September to complete the formalities; Li Huaide will help arrange everything.

Once she gets into the factory, we'll arrange for Sister Ma to be her mentor, so that no one will bully Mu Wanqing there.

Are you kidding me? Bullying Sister Ma's apprentice from the Women's Federation? You guys have no idea how much you want to just smash your head against a wall when you're being dragged around by a bunch of women watching the drama unfold, right?

Watching the melons is a minor issue; what if you get stressed while being watched by a group of old women...

Then you might as well jump off a building...

Even Li Huaide doesn't dare to mess with the Women's Federation!

So, after Zhang Dabiao treated Li Huaide to a meal, and Aunt Mu Wanqing personally cooked another meal for Zhang Dabiao, there was basically nothing else to do in August.

Zhang Dabiao, having nothing better to do, came up with vertical farming, which is simply setting up trellises and hanging pots to grow vegetables, increasing the planting density.

Tiered planting racks: Used wooden boxes, bamboo baskets, and clay pots are arranged in a staggered pattern on a tiered frame constructed from wooden strips, bamboo poles, and bricks. Spinach, bok choy, and other vegetables can be grown on this rack.

Hanging cultivation: Ceramic pots or bamboo baskets with holes drilled in the bottom are suspended from eaves, window frames, or homemade bamboo or wooden frames. This method is suitable for growing shade-tolerant leafy vegetables.

Climbing trellis planting: Using bamboo poles, wooden sticks, and scrap electrical wires to build a trellis to guide vine crops to grow upwards. Examples include cucumbers, broad beans, loofahs, and gourds.

In any case, apart from the stable and the small fishpond, the small courtyard is now basically filled with plants, densely packed, and every available space has been utilized.

The vegetable and grain production here is quite considerable, and it is perfectly adequate to supply the purchasing tasks of the integrated utilization plant (the workload of temporary purchasing staff is half that of regular purchasing staff) and to supply some food processing plants.

Not to mention the salted fish, cured meat, and mushrooms, as well as the coarse grains that Yan Jiecheng and others would exchange for every week.

Having food in hand brings peace of mind, especially since these things all have legitimate origins. It's safe to say that the entire Nanluoguxiang area knows that there's a small vegetable garden in courtyard number 95, and there's so much food there that you can't possibly eat it all!

Furthermore, there's a youth mutual aid association in courtyard number 95, where young people can exchange food at the small vegetable garden for grain—much cheaper than at the pigeon market or the black market.

I'm so envious and jealous!

But they have the skills to grow it, they don't steal or rob, and they exchange it instead of buying it with money, so it's not even speculation... What can you say?

Director Wang even led a group of neighbors to visit and learn from their experience. In this day and age, achieving a lifestyle of freely consuming fish, meat, and vegetables with just a 300-square-meter vegetable garden is no small feat!

The potatoes were harvested at the end of June, but not much, only 200 jin (100 kg). Because of the intensive farming, the yield was slightly higher than the national average, and the planting area was small, so it did not cause a sensation.

The pumpkins were harvested in early August, a total of 8 large pumpkins, each weighing more than ten kilograms, their size was frightening!

Not many corn plants were planted, but the harvest is expected in late August to mid-September, and the corn is growing quite well recently.

Sweet potatoes are grown from late September to early October, and can be harvested before the first frost. This is the most common type of sweet potato.

The chives have been harvested several times, and Xu Damao and Yan Jiecheng have eaten the most!

The chili peppers, scallions, ginger, and garlic planted in the corners and edges also yielded a good harvest.

The neighborhood committee promoted this for a while, and now almost every courtyard in Nanluoguxiang grows vegetables. If there isn't enough ground space, they've learned to build trellises to grow them.

But fertilizer is another problem. I heard that the public toilets at the entrance of the alley recently ran out of fertilizer. The workers who came to collect the waste were all standing there cursing! In the end, they even had to call the neighborhood committee to mediate – this fertilizer is one of the production materials!

You need manure tickets to carry manure back as fertilizer!

What are you city folks doing, stealing manure?

Are they all insane?!

After being lectured by the neighborhood committee, everyone made a decision—"Why don't I just stop using public toilets?"

A large vat was placed in every corner of the front, middle, and back yards. Every morning when everyone came out to use their chamber pots, they would pour the contents into the vat. This was called keeping the fertilizer in the family!

It's just composting, it's not that difficult.

But Zhang Dabiao couldn't stand it!

What the hell is that smell in the whole yard?!

His little courtyard was fine, because Zhang Dabiao's "little nest" contained fertilizer and nutrient solution!

After the pandemic lockdown was lifted, the community group-buying kits for growing vegetables on balconies came out. They were made of plastic frames with U-shaped plastic tubes in the middle, and they even came with "soil" as a gift. In reality, it was a growing base made of coconut coir, peat moss, perlite, vermiculite, and slow-release fertilizer granules.

I also bought nutrient solution and a small bag of fertilizer on the way.

The key is that all these things can create space, wouldn't that be perfect!

（缓释肥-1948年发明了脲醛缓释肥，55年上市；营养液-1859-1865萨克斯与克洛普开创水培法与标準配方，1920起霍格兰配方、1930起「液培」术语出现在实验室普及）

So, in terms of soil quality and fertilizer, who can be as wealthy as Zhang Dabiao?

In addition, Qin Jingru knew how to do farm work, Yan Jiecheng and others were willing to contribute their labor, and everyone had also taken labor classes.

Zhang Dabiao's little vegetable garden was naturally thriving.

That's why the neighborhood committee brought people here to learn, mainly about vertical planting, while Zhang Dabiao was just spouting nonsense to fool people.

The soil was dug from the suburbs, and I used the fertilizer the same way everyone else did. The main advantage was that vertical farming allowed us to plant more crops, and our mutual aid association had a large number of members who cultivated the land meticulously, etc.

Nutrient solution and fertilizer?

They didn't see it at all.

Some people roughly estimated that Zhang Dabiao's 260 square meters of land, plus a 40 square meter fishpond, could easily produce 2000 jin of vegetables, grains, and meat a year.

This startled everyone, because, for example, a middle school student's monthly ration is 27 jin (18.5 catties), which is 324 jin (16.6 catties) a year. This means that Zhang Dabiao's vegetable garden could easily support about six middle school students a year.

Zhang Dabiao didn't care about that. With the help of my fertilizer, soil, chemical fertilizer, and vertical planting, he only got 2000 jin a year. What was the point of me playing around?

Whether it counts or not is their business, and Zhang Dabiao didn't explain.

However, the subdistrict office compiled the planting experience and basic forms of vertical planting into a document and promoted it. Then, they awarded Zhang Dabiao a banner that read "Model Worker of Self-Help in Production in Nanlu Guxiang".

……

Zhang Dabiao was frustrated. "You could at least write that I'm an activist."

What does "little pacesetter" mean?

Eight hundred soldiers rushed to the north slope?

However, the promotion has been effective. People in Nanluoguxiang still trust Zhang Dabiao quite a bit because many people have come to visit and know that this is feasible, so they have all learned to do it.

Almost every courtyard has various frames erected on the open space. In any case, being able to add an extra pot of vegetables a month is a great thing.