What kind of vegetables to plant after a storm?

(Baonghean) - In Nghe An in particular, and the North Central region in general, 80% of heavy rains accompanied by strong winds and storms are concentrated mainly in September and October. 2013 is a year of heavy rain causing major flooding that occurs continuously in Nghe An in September and October. In November, heavy rains are likely to continue; strong winds and storms are less likely to occur.

There is not much time left to plant winter vegetables, especially corn which is out of season. Therefore, we should only continue to plant short-term vegetables such as leafy vegetables, root vegetables (kohlrabi, potatoes), and fruit vegetables (tomatoes, climbing beans).

To ensure safety and security for vegetables planted after the rainy and stormy season, the following issues should be noted:

The current vegetable growing area must be high and dry, with little flooding during heavy rains. On this land, after the winter vegetable crop, only short-term spring rice or peanuts, corn, etc. should be planted to prolong the growth and development of vegetables in the winter without having to harvest early, reducing productivity and product quality.

Corn only applies to corn grown on Lam River and Hieu River alluvial soil after the storms have basically ended. This corn crop is called late winter-early spring corn (abbreviated as winter-spring corn).

This corn crop is sown from late November onwards and harvested in late March and early April. After harvesting the corn crop, continue to plant green beans or summer-autumn corn.

In coastal sandy areas, at this time, short-term hybrid glutinous corn varieties such as MX2, MX4, MX6, MX10 or local glutinous corn are often grown by farmers in many communes in Nghi Loc and Cua Lo Town. These types of corn can be harvested after 65 - 70 days of planting to sell young corn as boiled corn which is highly consumed. After the corn crop, continue to plant spring peanuts.

For vegetables such as mustard greens, cabbage, kohlrabi, tomatoes, etc., sow seeds in a nursery at home or in the field. A small nursery needs a roof to prevent rain and wind from damaging the seedlings. When the seedlings have 3-4 pairs of leaves, they can be planted. Doing so will ensure healthy seedlings for planting and save seeds.

When planting seedlings in the field, according to the experience of Tien Duong commune, Dong Anh district (Hanoi), a locality with a vegetable growing area of ​​up to nearly 100 hectares. Continuously for many years now, farmers here have planted all kinds of leafy vegetables, fruit vegetables, herbs, cruciferous vegetables (kohlrabi, cauliflower...) in plastic canopy to avoid rain and wind from damaging the plants, saving on fertilizer costs and very little damage from pests.

The plastic canopy is a bamboo frame covered with transparent white plastic. The canopy is about 5 - 7 meters long, as wide as the vegetable bed. The two ends of the canopy have 50 - 60cm high poles to be driven into the ground when we cover the canopy over the vegetable bed, the edge of the plastic canopy must always be 10 - 15cm from the bed surface (not covering the entire bed like covering seedlings). Thanks to growing vegetables in plastic canopy, farmers in Tien Duong commune, Dong Anh (Hanoi) despite heavy rain and strong winds due to the influence of storms No. 6, 7, 8, 9 still have vegetables to harvest and sell to the market.

Doan Tri Tue