I ordered my patio drip-irrigation kit today. I hate to put the burden of watering all my hanging baskets and flower pots on my deck and porch on my in-laws every time we leave town. They have enough to do feeding the cats and cleaning our cats’ litterbox.  It should be here by next week.

I used lots of drip irrigation when I lived out west. It was a way of life but pretty much unnecessary here in the northeast unless you have potted plants. Though, there are times we do need to water during a few dry stretches.

I plan on putting a feeder tube to my fountain, too, to keep it filled with water. I used to like watering my hanging baskets but lately I just think of it as something I have to do, even though I just love my flowers. The kit includes a battery-operated timer so I won’t have to worry about it except to make sure it is working now and then

Last year I looked for 70% shade cloth but couldn’t find any around here locally. I ordered it last month and I put it up last week. The hanging flowers are just going to love it. I’ll use the deck a lot more because it blocks out 70% of the sun on our deck. My plants were always in stress during the hot spells. I will just take it off come fall so it lets the full sun come back to the deck when it turns cooler. We have a decorative pergola above but it doesn’t block much sun. Now we can have the best of both worlds.