Flower village in Tet season

(Baonghean) - Preparing for the 2015 Lunar New Year flower season, from the beginning of the 11th lunar month, flower villages in the suburbs of Vinh city have been bustling with the season. Many traders from everywhere have come here to see ornamental plants and place early orders, so the flower villages are more bustling than other seasons of the year.

Visiting Kim Chi flower and ornamental plant village (Nghi An commune - Vinh city), you can feel the urgent atmosphere of labor and production of farmers so that flowers and ornamental plants do not miss the deadline for Tet... Mr. Nguyen Dinh Truc - Vice Chairman of Nghi An Commune People's Committee said: "During the time near Tet, there are often customers and traders from inside and outside the province coming to Nghi An to visit and can order Tet flowers from garden owners. To have flowers to sell on the right occasions before, during and after Tet, people have to plant 3 batches; batch 1 from the end of September to December 15, batch 2 and 3 from October 15 to January 15. For more than 3 months, every time is important for the growth and development cycle of flowers. Growers who are careless in just one technical step can lose their family's main source of income for the year. After decades of being attached to the profession, one person learns from another, each person equips themselves with knowledge knowledge and skills to make the next crop yield better than the previous one".

Farmers in Trung My flower village, Hung Dong commune (Vinh city) grow flowers to serve the Lunar New Year market.

Up to now, every Nghi An villager has mastered the knowledge and skills to be able to stay with this arduous job. At the beginning of each season, the village sends people to Hanoi to choose and buy the best flower varieties to distribute to everyone. The most difficult thing about growing flowers is to make them bloom right on Tet. If the weather is warm and sunny for a long time, we have to find a way to prevent the flowers from blooming early. On the contrary, in cold years, we have to spray stimulants and turn on electric heaters to make the flowers bloom. Mr. Nguyen Huu Thong, the village chief of Kim Chi village, said: "Each sao of flowers brings in about 20-30 million VND. Thanks to sticking with the job, the lives of the people of Kim Chi village have changed. There are families who stick with the job of growing flowers and ornamental plants and earn hundreds of millions of VND each year. Therefore, although it is more difficult than farming, the people here are still determined to stick with the job." According to statistics, the whole commune currently has nearly 300 households following the profession, mainly concentrated in Kim Chi hamlet (130 households), Kim Phuc hamlet (100 households), Kim My hamlet (40 households)... Nghi An flowers are mainly chrysanthemums, roses, violets, and heather; there are currently 15 different types of chrysanthemums on the people's fields such as crystal chrysanthemums, white chrysanthemums, green-staple chrysanthemums, lilies, silver chrysanthemums... In addition, there are also lilies, fanciers, gladiolus, trumpet lilies... Especially lilies, according to the experience of some households who have been experimenting with growing them for the past 3 years, this is a "fickle" flower variety compared to the weather in the Central region. But if grown successfully, a pot of 3-5 plants brought into the inner city to sell during Tet holiday will cost 150,000 - 250,000 VND/pot...

Spring atmosphere is also filling the air when visiting Trung My flower village in Hung Dong commune (Vinh city). While taking the opportunity to install additional light bulbs for the chrysanthemum beds that had just been planted for 8 days, Mr. Le Viet Thao (Trung My hamlet) happily said: “On an area of ​​over 600m2 of this garden, last year my family planted 3 batches of chrysanthemums of various types, with a selling price of 2,500 - 3,000 VND/plant, after deducting expenses, the income was over 40 million VND. This year I continue to plant 8 different types of chrysanthemums, planting in many batches to have flowers to harvest gradually from New Year's Day to the 15th day of the first lunar month. Flower growing seems leisurely but is not simple, in addition to mastering planting and care techniques, it also depends a lot on the weather, if favorable, the grower can be sure of making a profit. This year we are hoping for a good chrysanthemum season because the weather is generally dry, with little rain. If there is a lot of rain, high humidity will create an environment for fungal diseases to develop, and for chrysanthemums in particular, just a long period of heavy rain will cause the plants to collapse. roots, cannot grow. However, at this point it is still too early to confirm the victory or defeat of a flower season".

It has been more than 20 years since the first flowers were planted on Hung Dong land, but it has become a movement and expanded in area since 1995; up to now, the whole commune has nearly 300 households following the profession, producing on a stable area of ​​3.5 hectares annually. Depending on actual conditions, each household produces at least about 4,000 plants, large households up to over 20,000 plants, mainly for consumption during the Lunar New Year. In order to increase economic value, in the past 4 years, in addition to traditional flowers, people have boldly invested in growing many high-class flowers such as lilies, orchids, tulips, etc. Through many years of being involved in the profession, people's experience has gradually improved, especially their awareness in creating products closely linked to the consumer market. Like Ms. Nguyen Thi Tinh and Ms. Tran Thi Ha (Trung My hamlet), for more than 4 years now, in order to have a stable source of income, in addition to producing flowers to serve the Tet market, they also provide flower varieties of all kinds, take care of them, and decorate the entire area in Ho Chi Minh Square...

In addition to preparing flowers for the Tet market, gardeners growing ornamental plants and bonsai are also busy arranging and taking care of the plants to supply the Tet market in time. With hundreds of different types of plants, many of which are new varieties prepared this year such as mai chieu thuy, laurel, kim tangerine, su quan am, van nien tung... Due to the special nature of ornamental plants being sold all year round, to participate in the Tet market, growers must constantly update new varieties to meet the market's needs... With less than 2 months left until the Lunar New Year of At Mui, flower and ornamental plant gardeners are actively taking care of and handling techniques to have flowers blooming at the right time. In addition to the factor of planting at the right time and the meticulous care of gardeners, for flowers to bloom on time for Tet also depends a lot on the weather. Therefore, flower growers are anxiously waiting for the last days of the year to have favorable weather and rain to have a Tet full of colorful flowers, more warmth and prosperity...

Article and photos:Ngoc Anh