After a while of detailed instruction-giving, Harold finally began planting the different plants according to the directions Althea gave.
Althea asked him to do two approaches: One was with a nursery, while the other was to directly plant the seeds on the system soil. In fact, the past few days (other than doing a few hours of training every day), Althea had already began with her nursery, but it was focused on a couple of local plants, and she decided it was time to try more varieties.
Althea assisted with this task, where he only had to gather soil in a specific spot in the system farm and place them on makeshift containers carved out from soft porous rocks (which would temporarily be their pots until they found a better alternative).
The boss did the rest of the planting and recording.
After being dismissed, he then went on to work on the second phase of the experiment. The farm itself was around 600 square meters and he held a rough plan of how the plants would be zoned. There were also basic instructions on how to garden.
For example, since there were no weeds or grass in the system farm, he only needed to loosen the soil with a makeshift tiller they made from twigs. He also added some compost to certain areas, but not everything, because the boss wanted to know the effect of fertilizers on system farms.
After tilling and loosening the soil, it was time for him to dig and start planting.
It was around this that he heard his daughter's immature voice.
Maya jumped out, squatting beside him trying to get the shovel from him. "Let me help Daddy!" She said, taking the shovel and helping him dig.
She must have thought he still had his old back problems, which was now non-existent thanks to their upgraded physiques.
"My Maya is so sensible.." he smiled and didn't reject her kindness. The world had changed now, he couldn't baby her like he used to.
Letting her help with things like this was doing her a favor.
The boss told him specific instructions on how to handle each seed and plant, and he made sure to follow it to the tee.
There were also plenty of 'experimental' conditions, and he knew it was integral to the territory that he did it correctly. So, he did all the planting by himself.
Of course, the others could be given to his hyper daughter.
"Can I be in charge of watering?" Maya grew up the daughter of a servant, she had always been willing to serve, not to mention she was just doing her part. Maya was a very good girl.
Althea smiled as the two bonded over farming, and turned her attention to the crops in the nursery.
The nursery basically consisted of sensitive plants that she had to monitor herself, a lot of which were indigenous plants. As for the ones in the farm, there were also the same plants as the ones in the nursery, but also plants she judged to be resilient.
This was also to test whether soil taken out of system farms was still any good.
In any case, the 600 sqm was divided into 12 lots. Eight out of twelve will be given to the yam-like and wheat-like plants.
However, there were differences in their conditions, like different spacing, water, depth, etc. To determine which conditions these plants grew best.
The rest would be other edible plants, herbs, vegetables, and fruits.
For example, berries. One was the blueberries similar to Terran blueberries. The other was the Yu Berry, and another ultra sweet berry they found on the way here.
There was what she called warmmelon. It looked a lot like watermelon, only yellow, and had an effect of warming up the insides like turmeric tea.
Speaking of tea, she had also taken a few bushes of tea-potential plants, but she planted them near the fences.
As for herbs, mostly she took in herbs that could be used as spices and condiments.
They also have their own medicinal properties, of course, much of which was still ongoing experiments. This was a particularly sensitive area, and would require most of her attention—something she could not yet give at the moment, unfortunately.
She also kept half of her nursery for Terran seeds. Of course, she did not dare use all of the seeds lest she lose them all. She just planted a few experimental products for now.
Satisfied with the planting plan, she gave every crop a one-over. With the insane refresh of this world added with the 20% field bonus, the plants should all be ready within a few days.
By that time, she and Eugene would have perfected some basic processing tools so they could sell the processed food at the Grocery store.
In addition to these, she would sell condiments and other things in the future.
She made a rough calculation and knew that her little farm would not be enough to sustain the potential population the territory could absorb.
She decided to invest in 100 more farms, building them side-by-side in the agricultural zones. She 'rented' the nearest 10 fields for herself. For the farms, she wasn't planning on selling them, only rent them out.
They were too important to the territory to give to others.
She turned to Sheila, who was arranging some dried herbs as per her request. "Sheila, can you do me a favour and post a job notice in the village center?"
The announcements tab was not limited to the Lord. Citizens could also post, but for a price of 1 silver for every 100 words.
"Let's hire some farming hands. Those with experience in farming, gardening, and agriculture are welcome. The salary will be 50 copper a day."
"Let's add those to help us in the grocery store. You can also attach manpower you need in your respective stores.." She said, enumerating the various types of labor they would need.
"Got it!" She said, properly putting away the plants.
Speaking of which, judging by the number of people coming by the day, production would eventually be required.
She looked at the map, and mused she should at least add an industrial area. The quantity of the processing of different fields would definitely need this space.
Even after all of these, she still had so much to do.
But… she was feeling quite excited.