Mercy, I'm tired.
I was outside working in a flower bed by 9 a.m. today. Planted some zinnia seeds. Pulled some grass. Mid-morning, I went to a greenhouse for pepper plants. All they had were those terribly hot ones, like habanero and ghost peppers. I wanted jalapenos, pimentos, and bell peppers. Nanny asked for a cherry tomato, and I found one of those. Also found a pretty pink hydrangea and a healthy-looking daisy. Those pepper plants that I did not find wound up costing fifty-something dollars!
As soon as I got back from the greenhouse, I dug the vegetable seed sack out of the freezer and went to the garden. Even though the garden has been tilled twice in the past couple of weeks, it didn't seem deep enough, so I dragged the big black tiller out of the shed. It cranked on the third pull. I got four of the planned six rows tilled for purple hull peas when the right-side tire fell off the tiller. Just fell off. There's a bolt that goes through the shaft and is secured with a cotter pin, and it was gone. Nanny and I searched and searched, but never found them. I even dug out our metal detector, but didn't get any hits. Now that I think about it, that tire may have come off last year, and we just stuck it on long enough to get the tiller back to the shop and forgot about it.
In any case, I had not only the rest of the pea rows to till, but I also wanted to run it over the cucumber and squash rows so that I could make hills out of soft dirt. So I went to the hardware store and came home with a pocket full of different-sized bolts and cotter pins. The smallest bolt would go through the holes on the tire, but it would not go through the hold in the shaft. I stuck the tire on, anyway, dropped a cotter pin through the hole in the shaft, and was able to do the rest of today's tilling. I planted okra for as long as the seeds held out - probaby enough for the season if they all sprout. Nanny came out and planted squash and cucumbers as I raked up the hills. We probably planted way too much of those.
There is no telling how old these seeds are. There were half-packs of everything. Two or three half-packs of some things. The squash row has both crookneck and straight-neck seeds. I ran out of purple hull peas after 4 rows. Maybe it was fate. For years, the deal has been that I will grow and pick the peas if Nanny will shell and preserve them. Today, after the 4 rows were planted, Nanny said, "I've still got peas in the freezer from last year." I think it was her way of telling me that the planting/growing/shelling arrangement is suspended for this year.
There is room left in the garden - two or three long rows. It's about to get too hot for some things. I love beans, especially great northern beans. There's a jar of dried northern beans in my pantry that I've been planning to cook. Maybe I'll plant them, instead. ;)
P.S. - I got off this computer and went and planted two half-rows of great northern beans. Now, come on, rain!
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