Water for everyone

I can always tell when it's the weekend/summer vacation. My eyelids snap open like sprung window shades at about 5:30 am, and after a fruitless effort to get them closed again, I give up and get up for the day. (This never happens on workdays.)

This morning, I headed out to the vegetable garden to plant the last of the tomato plants. I had 2 Black Russian tomatoes from Kyle, 2 more Orange Banana paste tomato seedlings to replace two that succumbed to some pest, and a final Lilian's Yellow also from Kyle. Since I intend to can tomatoes in my pressure canner, I decided I need to plant more tomatoes than I originally planned.

I also planted some more sunflower and zinnia seeds, and some additional peppers in the pepper hothouse. My pal Mike gave me three Lemon Drop pepper seedlings from seed I had saved and given to him, and I bought a flat of Sweet Banana peppers to go with the Orange Banana paste tomatoes (really, because I had room, so why not). I finished up with transplanting my leek seedlings. Just as I finished Dan came out to say hello and tell me the coffee was ready. As I watered in the leeks, rain began to fall, completing my watering for me, so I turned off the hose and headed in for coffee and blogging.

Last night, Dan and I stole an idea from my friend Karen, and set up a birdbath and dripper in the herb and cutting flower bed in the vegetable garden. We used the trunk of the lilac for the post, and an old dented watering can I found at a flea market near Dan's parents in the Cobleskill, NY area. It drips one drop about every 30 seconds or so, just enough to keep the birdbath full and attract the birds to the moving water. With luck, while there for a drink they will eat any unwanted bugs in the neighborhood.

The sun is now out again, and my list of projects is calling, so time to head out to the garden. More later!