Watering Technique - newbie questions...

[D&S Mabel]

Ok, I'm brand new to S/H, having repotted several plants last weekend and the following may seem REALLY dumb but here goes... I did my first regular watering today and found it to be a bit of a pain. I am looking for ways of making it a bit easier in the future so any suggestions are welcome.

All of my plants are on benches measuring 2' x 4' and about 24" off the ground. I would like to be able to water them in place. With this in mind, I am finding it hard to locate the holes in the pots (I am using First Ray's pots with the two holes close together) so that I can block those holes in order to fill the pot during watering, hold the liquid there for a few seconds and then uncover the holes to let it drain down. I figure I can make a mark on the lip of the pot directly above the holes to make them easier to locate, solving that but, what is the best method for actually covering the holes?? Two of my fingers are too big to fit well and one is too small - and, in either case, it seems to works best if I pick up the pot and set it on a taller surface in order to cover the holes with my fingers. To not cover the holes just puts a whole lot of liquid on the ground while trying to fill up the pot.

I was thinking maybe a sponge on a stick or some other arrangement could be used to cover the holes without having to actually move the pots around.

Am I making mountains out of mole hills here? How do you handle this task?