Convenience food

When we lived in Vancouver, the weather forecast often promised sunshine that would fail to appear.  They had to give us some hope.  In Lethbridge, the promise is rain.  I decide that I don't have to water the garden because rain is imminent, then arrive home from work in the afternoon to find lettuces prostrate under the sun.  Yesterday we finally got the precipitation we were promised, or some of it: 28 out of 50 mm isn't bad.  That's more than an inch (to make the visualization easier).  It woke us shortly before standard wake up time this morning, pounding on the roof.  My first thought was of the basement and whether seepage (an unwelcome occurrence) would occur.  My second thought was of the tomato seedlings in their 3-inch pots, sitting at their designated planting sites.  Would they be hailed upon?  Unlikely, hail is more of an afternoon thing.  Would they be knocked over by the driving force of huge, heavy, hurtling raindrops?

The tomato transplants were all still vertical when I checked on them late morning.  I rewarded them with a good helping of crushed eggshells in their planting holes.  (It wasn't actually a reward; I give that to all the tomatoes.)  The entire garden looked happy, especially those species that weren't expressly invited to participate in our garden   Spent  about half of an hour deadheading dandelions and the other half uprooting creeping bellflower and quack grass.  Can't help thinking my time could be better spent for the good of humanity.  This morning I watched a video that summed up in 10 minutes Stephen Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Effective People".  In case you are not familiar with the book, weeding is not one of those habits.

....but back to the rainfall.  The ground is soaked and I am off the hook for watering for a bit.  As the garden area expands, it takes longer for us to deliver water everywhere it needs to go in the growing season.  Plants are good about making their own food with what is available in the air and soil.  They just need to add water.  Right now there are recently sown and germinating seeds close to the surface, vulnerable to dessication.  They don't care whether the water comes from a watering can or falls from the sky.  If it falls from the sky, like manna from heaven, that's mighty convenient for me.  Can I have that 28 mm divided among three showers per week, preferably around 2:00 am?