Overwintering greenhouse lettuce expanded in Shunhe Township, Yongqiao District, Suzhou, Anhui

    In recent days, farmers in Wanglong, Machang and other villages in Shunhe Township, Yongqiao District, have taken advantage of the current favorable weather to fertilize and prepare the soil in time and transplant overwintering greenhouse lettuce. 

    Recently, Li Guangjun and his family from Wanglong Village came early to the already prepared field, set up sprinkler irrigation equipment, and the whole family busied themselves with making holes, dropping seedlings, and planting; in less than a day, all 3 mu of lettuce had been transplanted.  

    In Shunhe Township, just like Li Guangjun's family, more than 1000 people are busy transplanting lettuce every day. Farmers in Shunhe Township have a tradition of growing vegetables for more than 30 years. In recent years, the township has vigorously developed overwintering greenhouse vegetables, off-season vegetables and late-autumn vegetables, and farmers have obtained relatively high economic income. In particular, the annual overwintering greenhouse lettuce has become a major highlight of local farmers' income growth. This cultivation technique involves raising seedlings in mid-September, transplanting and setting the seedlings in mid-to-late October, covering with a greenhouse in late November, and placing small arched tunnels inside; after the Start of Spring the following year, it can be marketed. The next crop can be early-maturing watermelon, and after the watermelon harvest, grain or summer vegetables can be planted, generally yielding an income of more than 10000 yuan per mu. In the spring of this year, the average net income per mu of greenhouse lettuce in this township exceeded 5000 yuan, with the highest reaching more than 8000 yuan, which greatly aroused farmers' enthusiasm for planting, and they have been expanding the planting area one after another. This year, the greenhouse lettuce planting area in this township can reach more than 8000 mu, an increase of nearly 40% over last year. At present, farmers throughout the township are seizing the fine weather and rushing to transplant, and all transplanting can be completed by the end of October.