Growing on Water to Create a Water Garden: This Is How Fu Zhenjian, a Farmer in Wangcheng District, Changsha, Does It

“Splashing in the water to cool off during hot weather is a delightful thing, but soaking in the water for a long time is not comfortable.” Yesterday, on a water surface in Getang Town, Wangcheng District, farmer Fu Zhenjian, who “grows” flowers and plants, wore half-length rain pants and planted pot after pot of flowers on floating boards. After half a day's work, the previously unremarkable water surface was suddenly dotted with canna lilies, moss rose and other flowers and plants, turning into a “water garden.”

Fu Zhenjian is 46 years old this year and began running a breeding farm in 2005 at Baqu River in Wushan Town, Wangcheng District. In 2008, using floating boards made of plastic materials, foam and the like, he designed special equipment for water cultivation composed of floating boards, floating rods, floating nets and so on, and started growing vegetables on water in a fish pond of more than 20 mu. What no one expected was that in June of that year, the water spinach, baby cabbage and other crops Fu Zhenjian planted on the surface of the fish pond grew with thick stems and green leaves, and the pond water became much cleaner as well.

The year before last, Fu Zhenjian set his sights on growing flowers and plants on water. “Growing flowers and plants on water can create and transform urban and rural ecological landscapes.” Fu Zhenjian pondered. Before long, his water flower and plant growing project succeeded again. He laid out a design on the surface of a large pond in Jinggang Ancient Town, and a well-arranged “water garden” appeared before people's eyes.

After succeeding with water cultivation, the 12 items of special equipment and technology for “water cultivation” developed by Fu Zhenjian obtained patents from the State Intellectual Property Office. “Doing agricultural projects also requires keeping pace with the times.” Today, Fu Zhenjian has built his own e-commerce platform to sell his water cultivation products online, and merchants from local Changsha as well as Guangdong, Sichuan, Yunnan, Hubei and other places have placed orders one after another to create local ecological landscapes.

Yesterday, at the site of the water ecological landscape project in Getang, the reporter saw Fu Zhenjian “planting” globe amaranth, canna lilies, lysimachia and butterfly flowers on the water surface. Fu Zhenjian, who is in the midst of starting his business, said he hopes the water cultivation technology he painstakingly developed can be promoted in more places.

Wearing rain pants in hot weather to plant flowers and plants and create a water ecological landscape

Growing water spinach on water

Growing water spinach on water makes the crop more crisp and tender and is deeply favored by people. Farmer friends should learn water cultivation techniques, which is more conducive to increasing the yield of the water spinach crop.

Growing water spinach on water, and site selection and sowing: sowing generally begins in mid-March each year. When raising seedlings, sandy soil or loam should be chosen, with a water source nearby, because water spinach must have enough water during its growth period. At the same time, when choosing the land, it is also necessary to check whether the soil has been polluted, so as to avoid the water spinach being polluted. Seedling raising is generally carried out in stages, with a cycle of about 20 days. When the water spinach in one plot has grown for about 20 days, sowing begins in another plot. In this way, seedlings can be transplanted to the water surface at different times, ensuring that fresh and tender water spinach can be harvested at different times.

Growing water spinach on water, and fertilization management: after choosing the land, first turn the soil and level it. Then build a ring of earthen banks 40-50 cm high around the leveled land for irrigation. Then dig furrows about 10 cm deep and 15-20 cm wide, with a spacing of about 15 cm between two furrows, and then apply sufficient base fertilizer. The base fertilizer can be organic fertilizer such as pig manure or chicken manure from home, or compound fertilizer. Apply 2500-3000 kg/mu of decomposed organic fertilizer or 1500-2000 kg/mu of human feces and urine; apply 50-100 kg/mu of compound fertilizer.

The above is about growing water spinach on water. Farmer friends can manage it according to the growth of water spinach on water, apply fertilizer in time, and facilitate the later harvest of water spinach, improving the yield and quality of the crop.