More gardening - June 1, 2020

Damn it!

I have the hardest time accomplishing anything I set out to do.  :(

I went straight to the garden this afternoon after work with a mental list of things I needed to do:  (1) re-plant the pea rows that did not sprout for some mysterious reason; (2) re-plant the cucumbers that didn't come up; and (3) fertilize all the plants.

The soil in the pea rows was crusted over, hard as a brick.  I pulled the tiller out of the shed, cranked it, and started toward the garden with it when I realized the right tire was flat.  No problem; there's an air compressor in the big shop.  As I wrestled the tiller around to the front of the shop, the tire kept  trying to come off the rim.  Finally got it there with the tire still on the rim.  I turned the compressor on to let it build pressure while I hooked up the hose.  The business end of the hose did not have a fitting for tires on it.  I found all sorts of fittings, but none that would fit the tire nozzle.  The Husband was due home any minute, so I decided to wait and ask him to air up the tire.  Meanwhile, I would start fertilizing the plants.

I had one of those Miracle Gro sprayers in the garden shed, and found a bag of powder to go in it.  Now I just needed to hook it up to enough water hoses to reach the garden.  Nanny had a pile of water hoses.  One looked brand new, but two others had seen better days.  I twisted them together - it's about 150 feet from the water faucet to the garden - and had more than enough hose to reach the garden.  When I turned on the water, a geyser erupted from the center water hose, stealing so much water pressure that my sprayer wouldn't work.  I thought I'd still have enough hose if I took out the center hose and reconnected the first and last hoses, but I could not get the center hose unscrewed from the last hose.

I dropped everything and went to the Dollar General and bought three new 75-foot hoses (two for the garden, and one to replace the hose that The Husband busted two weeks ago when he forgot to turn off the water).  Attached the two new hoses, attached the Miracle Gro sprayer, and turned on the water.  Guess what?  The sprayer didn't want to work properly.  The water more or less poured out of it instead of spraying.  *sigh*  I think I managed to pour enough fertilizer water on all the plants to do them some good.  Hopefully.

Meanwhile, The Husband came down to the shop with a proper fitting for the air tank.  He worked and worked, but could not get the tire to seal to the rim.  While he worked, I gathered up all of the dead water hoses and stuffed them in Nanny's garbage can.  She said, "The garbage man is going to hate me."  I said, "I do not care."

I attempted to roll the new hoses onto a hose cart I'd bought for the garden a couple of years ago.  Unfortunately, someone had previously CUT an old hose off the cart, leaving part of the fitting from the old hose on the nozzle where you screw the hose onto the cart so it can get water.  I could not get that old fitting off, even with channel-lock pliers and WD-40.  I finally managed to get the new hoses rolled onto the cart, but they can't be connected to the water supply on the cart until I can get that fitting off - which probably will never happen - I'll have to get a new cart.

We finally tossed the tiller tire into the back of my car.  I will take it to the service station tomorrow to have it properly aired up.