In April this year, illustrator Zhong Liu picked lemons in his balcony orchard in Shenzhen, and the pet parakeet "chicken" flew on her shoulders. Photo provided by the interviewee
"The second wave of flowers bloomed, and small fruits were born after artificial pollination; carrots only grew roots on the seventh day of hydroponics, but the carrot tassels had grown early; lemon tree , which had been fruit-bearing for a long time, grew new leaves after being re-cut and fertilized... The vitality of the plant is far beyond our imagination. In a reinforced concrete house, there can still be pastoral life." This is the planting diary recorded by the illustrator Zhong Liu, a Shenzhen resident, on his social account "Echo's North Balcony Garden".
Since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, there are many young people who have opened their "pastoral dream" on their balcony like Zhong Liu. From the selection guide for seeds and nutrient soil, to the harvest scene of planting "first vegetarian vegetables", to the pastoral layout and landscaping of the balcony, "experts" and novices share their own experiences in growing vegetables on social platforms. On Xiaohongshu, there have been more than 60,000 notes related to "Growing Vegetables on the Balcony", and the number of readings on Weibo's topic "Growing Vegetables on the Balcony" has reached 74.204 million.
Balcony vegetable growing heat has also driven the development of related industries. According to the "2022 Balcony Vegetable Planting Report" released by Taobao, in the first quarter of 2022, the sales of various vegetable seeds soared year-on-year, and the number of seed purchasers increased by more than 100% for three consecutive years; the sales of branch tying machines increased by 89% year-on-year, the sales of sticky insect board increased by year-on-year, and the sales of smart vegetable planting machines increased by more than 200% year-on-year.
Why do young people who even have few visits to the vegetable market are happy to "work" on the balcony?
Own garden: fresh, healing, personalized
Fresh, it was the first time Zhong Liu had eaten the garlic seedlings planted by himself.
At the beginning of 2020, due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, Zhong Liu stocked up a lot of vegetables at home. Over time, garlic, potatoes and sweet potatoes sprouted. Zhongliu, who has long had the experience of growing flowers, directly planted the sprouted garlic into the soil. After a week, the garlic seedlings will grow to a height that can be harvested.
"The freshly picked garlic sprouts were stir-fried into a dish, and the taste was unexpectedly fresh and tender. From then on, I discovered the 'New World' of growing vegetables at home, and planted fruit trees such as passion fruit, flower and leaf small lime , lemon, plum, etc., to witness the process of plants from blossom to maturity, which is very stress-free." Zhong Liu said.
Han Yijun, director of the National Agricultural Market Research Center of China Agricultural University, believes that growing vegetables on the balcony can allow people to have a sense of pleasure, work, responsibility and gain, and is an important way to relieve anxiety.
"'Take hard, harvest ' brings a sense of security and certainty, which can especially play an emotional relief role during the epidemic." Zhang Xiaoqing, associate researcher at the balcony vegetable innovation team of the Vegetable Research Institute of Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said.
In the view of Zhu Xiaowei, the founder of the "Seed Hunter" store, the variety of varieties is also a reason for the rise in the popularity of vegetable growing on balcony. "In order to adapt to the requirements of modern agricultural intensive production methods for the transportation and storage resistance of fruits and vegetables, many companies have made improvements in the direction of breeding. The skins of fruits and vegetables are thicker and the flesh is harder, and the taste and flavor are inevitably affected. If you plant them yourself, the problem of long-distance transportation will no longer exist, and there is room for personalized choices in seeds and seedlings."
Zhu Xiaowei's team started looking for specialty crop seeds across the country since 2018. In the past few years, more than 1,500 varieties have been collected from tomatoes alone. "All varieties with good taste after evaluation will be sold in online stores. Old varieties with thin skin and sand pulp, light-food salad vegetable seeds, and spice potted plants have relatively high sales. Niche varieties such as two-color ice cream watermelon and glass gem corn, such as niche varieties with good appearance and good 'slicing' effect, are also very popular among young people."
In addition, it highlights personality, emphasizes beauty and landscaping, which is a major feature of growing vegetables on the balcony. "Although the balcony is small, it is my own garden after all. No matter how you do, you must take into account the beauty." Zhong Liu said.
In 2021, Zhong Liu and her husband moved. The balcony of the new home faces north and the area is less than 6 square meters. In order to create a balcony orchard, Zhong Liu built water pipes on the balcony to make waterproofing sufficient floor drains, and also purchased watering guns, fill lights and other tools.In addition to the original passion fruit, lemon, flower-leaf small lime and other tree species, Zhongliu planted "new friends" such as pineapple, guava , blueberry , tomato, watermelon and other "new friends". After the orchard was first taken into account, Zhong Liu and his wife designed and built a small green plant scene called " aquaponic symbiosis system" on the balcony. Through the siphon effect of the water pump, water can circulate between the fish tank and fruits and vegetables and achieve automatic irrigation. The "orchard leader" - the pet parakeet "chicken" also shuttles through the saplings and small scenery from time to time.
"Growing vegetables is 'addiction'. Recently, I planted ginseng, grapes, trout begonia, which gave the orchard more scenery and the kitchen more ingredients." Zhong Liu said.
starts with seeds and is adapted to balcony scenes
When young people's enthusiasm for growing vegetables is transmitted to the supply side, the feedback on merchants' sales is the most intuitive.
Zhu Xiaowei first noticed the popularity of vegetable growing on the balcony at the beginning of 2020. "During the Spring Festival, online stores directly 'shot orders' and poured in a large number of new customers, which has never happened. In the first half of 2022, under the premise that logistics in some areas were not smooth and 60% of orders could not be delivered, online store sales still increased by nearly 40% year-on-year."
"Four and five years ago, we launched mobile flower stands, wall-mounted flower pots, gardening tools and other products, and have been making some profits, but sales in 2022 are particularly good, with a significant increase in total sales in the first three months. Considering that the audience is home consumers, we have reduced the difficulty of assembling mobile flower stands and hanging vegetable stands during product iterations. Consumers can basically install them successfully without reading the instructions." said Ye Jianfeng, founder of Mengyuan Environmental Technology Co., Ltd., Dongguan City, Guangdong Province.
corresponds to the hot sales, and merchants are also launching more products that are suitable for balcony scenes: from small portions of seeds and unboxing seedlings, to family suits equipped with flower pots, nutrient soil, fertilizers, seeds, and gardening tools, to "lazy" self-absorbing vegetable pots, three-dimensional space-saving vegetable racks and other devices... "Urban Farmer" emphasizes personality, beauty and simple vegetable planting needs, which is bringing new development space to the market.
Selecting seeds is the first threshold for growing vegetables on the balcony.
Compared with traditional planting, the balcony scene puts forward more targeted requirements for seeds. In addition to the existing seeds with short-lived properties, low maintenance difficulty and high unit area returns, which are favored by consumers, research institutions such as the Academy of Agricultural Sciences have also provided new choices for growing vegetables on the balcony from an incremental perspective.
, established in 2019, the balcony vegetable innovation team of the Vegetable Research Institute of Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences. As one of the few professional teams in China that carry out research on urban balcony vegetable production, has promoted the research on balcony vegetable cultivation in terms of vegetable variety selection and technical support.
"The team recently developed fruit tomato and colored pepper varieties that are more suitable for balcony potted plants and are both ornamental and edible: the tomato varieties have improved the taste, the plant height is no more than 45 cm, strong branching, and a large amount of fruits per plant; the pepper varieties pay more attention to the rich color system, including orange, orange red , purple and other categories. In terms of technical research, the team adjusted the types and concentration of fertilizers in response to the vegetable growth problems caused by low light on the balcony. At present, the relevant varieties and technologies have been displayed and promoted in a small range." Zhang Xiaoqing said.
Zhu Xiaowei introduced that "seed hunter" is carrying out cooperation and sharing of seed resources and related technologies with Tianjin Academy of Agricultural Sciences , Tianjin Academy of Agricultural Sciences , Xinjiang Agricultural University and other institutions. "Collection and selection of seeds suitable for balcony vegetable planting scenarios is becoming a new trend in industrial development."
"Growing vegetables is a technical job"
"4 essential knowledge points for newbie growers", "Nutritional soil purchase guide", "Hydrogenic cultivation or soil cultivation?"... Since the COVID-19 epidemic, videos and posts related to growing vegetables on the balcony have received a lot of attention on social platforms. When launching new products, many merchants will not only state the product characteristics, planting steps and precautions on the purchase page, but also produce video content from sowing to harvest.
Despite this, problems such as "seeds have not germinated" and "hydrangea-grown roots have been rotten" still plague many newbie vegetable growing experts.
"Growing vegetables is a technical job, especially the sowing process, which requires high temperature and humidity. There are also many details to pay attention to in the cultivation method. For example, the soil used for soil cultivation is nutrient soil, not ordinary soil in nature. You should also pay attention to the control of water during cultivation to ensure that the plant 'quenches'; if you choose hydroponic planting, the plant root system should not be soaked too deep in the nutrient solution, and the 'shallow liquid flow' can promote plant growth. Growing vegetables on the balcony looks popular, but not many people really plant well." Zhang Xiaoqing suggested that novices might as well start with leafy vegetables and spices, which are less pest-infesting, easy to manage, and fast growth cycles. "Like melons and eggplant fruits, it is more difficult. If you really like it, you can also consider buying seedlings and skip sowing directly, which is relatively easy to get started."
In Zhu Xiaowei's store, 60% of consumers will choose seedlings. "Whenever a variety has seedlings, everyone will not buy seeds. However, selling seedlings is much more difficult than selling seedlings. In addition to having one more seedling step, seedlings are not easy to store, and it is easy to step on the "pit" in packaging and logistics. For example, we initially packaged seedlings with plastic wrap and sent to the buyer, either it has dispersed or it has been damaged during transportation, and the survival rate is not high. Later, it was changed to the original pot and original soil, and the situation was improved."
It is worth noting that the popularity of growing vegetables on the balcony has also brought chaos in industries such as fake and inferior seeds into the public's vision.
"The difficulty in controlling seed quality is a long-standing problem in the industry. On the one hand, it takes time to verify whether the seeds germinate, and it is difficult to hold them accountable once the merchant’s claim period exceeds the merchant’s claim period; on the other hand, there are many reasons for the low germination rate, and there are also difficulties in how to confirm the ownership of the responsibility." Zhang Xiaoqing said.
In Zhu Xiaowei's view, the long cycle from sowing to harvest provides space for a few merchants to fake seeds. "Some peers sell rare varieties as gimmicks at high prices, but in fact they sell the seeds that do not inactivate the plate at high temperature before selling them. Such seeds cannot be planted at all, and consumers will not know the tricks."
In addition, industry insiders pointed out that many people still have misunderstandings in the effects of growing vegetables on the balcony.
"Many people believe that growing vegetables on the balcony can achieve vegetable freedom and low cost, but it is actually not accurate. To achieve vegetable freedom, the first thing to do is to ensure quantity. After all, the balcony is limited in area and it is difficult to carry the amount of three meals a day for a single person, let alone a family. From the cost considerations, novices on the balcony need to purchase various facilities, and from the perspective of output per unit area, the price will not be lower than the market price." Zhang Xiaoqing said.
Zhong Liu has invested more than 10,000 yuan in the balcony vegetable garden. "If it is not counted as balcony decoration, screen windows, hydroponics boxes, the monthly expenditure on filling light electricity bills and new plants is also hundreds of yuan. My balcony vegetable garden cannot achieve self-sufficiency, but it can bring me happiness, which is enough." (Intern reporter Li Xuan)
Source: China Youth Daily
