Thursday 14 April 2011

The little mishap of last Friday..and freezing leeks!!

OK...so several of you wanted to know exactly what my little mishap down the allotment was last Friday.

The thing is I guess I could not have mentioned it at all and no-one would ever have known, it would have been my little secret...but in hindsight it was kind of funny (apparently if you were watching me it was bloody hilarious but that's another story!) and who can you laugh about it with if you keep it all to yourself, so of course I have already told my Parent and Hubby who got a jolly good laugh out of it too.

Hhhhmmmm...I think I may be stalling a little so I will just get on and tell it now...here goes!!

So I am don the allotment and I want to put in some onion sets. This I thought was going to be quite an easy task, the earth had been previously dug so I thought I can just run over it with the tiller and plonk them in...be done in no time at all.

I got the tiller out, fired it up, and went on my merry way whilst jollily listening to my mp3...totally minding my own business and without a care in the world. After I had tilled enough earth for the white onions I let go of the throttle...and...nothing...that's right, the tines kept turning and didn't even slow a slightest fraction. Now I knew that this wasn't right but it was easily solved by cutting the power and the main switch and the tiller was put to one side whilst I put in the white onions...first job completed successfully.....can you guess what happens next?????

Well as you can probably imagine I was a little apprehensive about re-starting the tiller after the throttle didn't cut out so I had a very firm grip on it and placed it on the soil where it could do no damage if the times started turning straight away and I gave the cord a good tug...and....a soft little purr came from the engine and there it stood proudly with the engine ticking over nicely and the tines not moving. This put me totally at ease and then as I was just about to get started my phone which was down near the greenhouse went off so I put the foot-stand down...left the engine ticking over and went to see who the message was from (just in case your interested it was Kate saying she wouldn't make it down that day). Anyway as I was looking at my phone I heard a noise...I turned round to see that the tines had started of there own violition which had kicked up the stand and the tiller was merrily whizzing it's way acros the allotments right through somebodies potato patch and towards some wire they had set up to protect their newly planted crops.

I though a lot of choice words and took off full pelt after the tiller managing to snag hold of it and cut the power just before it wrapped itself around the wire. I looked around and didn't think anyone had seen so I quickly re-erected the potato mounds and then re-started the tiller and kept a firm grip on it not leaving it alone for a second and cutting the power every time I wasn't actually using it.

I caught sight of Dave and beckoned him over to have a quick look at it, only to find out at that point that he had seen the whole episode and thoroughly enjoyed that mornings entertainment...so much for nobody seeing!!

So there you have it...that was my little mishap!

The tiller is now fixed and the throttle working fine......It's just as well I see the funny side of things...hope you all enjoyed it too!!

On top of that...on Saturday whilst watering the greenhouse I managed to drop my tray of calabrese seedlings upside down on the floor..so the quick trip to water turned out to be a lot longer as I then had to sift through compost to find un-broken stems to re-plant...but at least the pricking out got done and the transplanted seedling are looking very healthy!

Oh..and as for freezing leeks...it tells you in most books that they aren't really suitable to be frozen but I like to have a few in the freezer...I simply cut them into inch pieces...give them a wash, dry then and freeze them. I only use these ones for adding to casseroles and stews but they taste just fine and it means that I have them ready prepared to chuck in the pot quick...they are especially great for when you need to make up a quick vegetable stock!!

So have you all had any crazy mishaps lately?? Or am I the only one?!?! :-(

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7 comments:

  1. The only one I had lately wasn't gardening related.

    We were visiting the ruin of a fort along Hadrians wall. I was walking alongside one of the walls and fell down a ditch that was hidden by a shady patch dragging my sister's poor little dog down with me! The dog was fine and I thought I was but have had a limp for three weeks which is at last hopefully improving!

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  2. Oh dear - I was already nervous about trying out the petrol strimmer, FIL has given me the instruction book but it sounds scary. And then I read this. I have a bad feeling. Though I suppose if I manage to entertain other that might make it OK... Glad you returned unscathed!

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  3. I am sure if I though about it I could think of quite a few stories to tell you but I actually try not to think about those things.

    Glad everything is okay though. I am sure I will have something to post about the 6 chickens I just got soon enough.

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  4. LOL, oh that must have been some show. At least you can laugh at it

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  5. I haven't had anything like that happen to me lately, but things like it are routine for me. It's always best to tell about them because after that nothing can embarrass you ever again.

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  6. GLA...that one gave me a chuckle.. :-)

    Janet, let me know how you get on with the strimmer!

    Sundacrrie...I have had some near misses with chickens...just remember to keep some extra grain in your pockets to throw if they run at you!

    Ann...Dave said he wished he'd had his camera so he could have made some money out of it on you've been framed.

    Ratty....I love the story or the raccoons on your blog!! :-)

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  7. My typical allotment accident is accidentally backing on to cut-down bamboo canes... often with near-near-miss consequences.

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keep it clean...keep it relevant...I look forward to reading your comments!!