Well, damn.
Tonight after supper, we went down to the garden to plant okra. I dragged the big black tiller out of the shed to till up the row. About 1/4 down the row, the tiller ran out of gas. I re-filled the tank, and when I tried to crank it again, the pull cord broke. This tiller has an electric, push-button starter, but it has to be plugged up to electricity to work, and the extension cord wasn't half long enough to reach the garden. The Husband and I wrestled the tiller to the back door of the shop. On the way, while wondering why the tiller was so hard to push, we noticed that one of the tires was going flat. We aired up the tire, plugged up the tiller, and it cranked right up. Back to the garden I went. I finished out the row and was about to start back up it for a second tilling when the tiller started making a funny noise. Soon, the wheels and the tines quit spinning. The Husband prodded and poked around under the engine cover and discovered that a belt had broken.
Lord, save me from mechanical equipment.
In truth, I really can't be too mad at this tiller. In the 8 years or so that I've had it, it has never ONCE failed to crank and/or till. I do not begrudge it a little TLC after all this time.
We did manage to get the okra planted. It's a long row, enough okra for everybody in Tennessee, probably.
I also weeded the tomatoes and fertilized them with some calcium-rich fertilizer. Maybe that will help the mushy bottom situation.
Nanny found little cucumbers on the bloom-laden vines. Maybe we'll soon have enough to make pickles and relish.
The squash aren't blooming, yet. Neither are the green beans.
I still want to plant a few zucchini.
Everybody else is picking their gardens, already, and here I am, still planting seeds.
No comments:
Post a Comment