Wall o Water

If you've never heard of Wall o Waters you either live someplace with really steady and predictable spring seasons or you didn't know they exist. In short, they are used as tiny greenhouses to extend the growing season of plants. I've usually used them to give a head start to my hot season vegetables like tomatoes and peppers. Especially when I lived in eastern Colorado where the weather has always been erratic in the spring, my family used these bad boys to protect our tiny plants from frost, snow, hail and wind.They can last for a long period of time, I got a bunch from my father and I'm not even sure how long he had them.

Basic construction is that they are a tube of heavy duty plastic folded in half and sectioned off. Words to describe the construction are failing me, here is a picture instead.

When unfilled, the wall o water is easy to store

They are usually either green or red, though I think my mom had ones that were clear.

So this is how they work. Each of the sections is filled part of the way up and the wall o water forms a little teepee that can be put over a small plant. When the plant outgrows the teepee the whole thing can be removed. By then, it should be warm enough outside and the plant should be big enough to handle a little wind

Little teepee over my baby tomatoes

or the tubes can be filled all the way up which will make the wall o waters stand up like a little fortress wall. I've never done that, I think it is useful in areas where it doesn't get really warm in the summer.

Even though it hasn't been very warm out (around 50) during the day, these little guys are warm enough to keep growing

When done with them for the season, dump out the water, let them dry out and they can be folded to a pretty small size to be stored away for the next year.

Seriously though, they are great little plant protectors and I can't recommend them enough

Bonus photo of carrot seedlings! I finally have had success in germinating carrot seeds!

Plants people love to hate

My husband hates irises. the only reason I can find as to why is that he once owned a house where the irises in his yard never bloomed. I'm pretty sure they were planted in too much shade and never watered so yes, they never bloomed. I'm trying to change his mind as I adore irises, they come in so many colors, they are hard to kill, and they self propagate.
Over the years I have discovered that people have very strong feelings about plants. Deep loves and deep hates. I myself, detest Bacopa. It's a commonly used trailing annual with white, pink or pale blue flowers. More information can be found here Bacopa Trailing Annual.  I am generally not a big fan of pale colored flowers to begin with but I hate how Bacopa smells. Especially when it needs water, it has this sour mothball odor that I hate. If it isn't obvious by now reading any of my blog entries, scent is really important to me. Bacopa happens to be a plant with a terrible odor and the color is not enough to make me like it. One of the reasons I hate Bacopa is from having thousands of them that were under my care in my horticulture classes. The greenhouse would reek of them on warmer days or when they started to dry out. One of my teachers kept telling me that one day I would appreciate their reliable blooming and easy to match colors. That day has yet to arrive.
There are plants that cause deep divides in the gardening community. Roses are one plant that I've seen people on both ends of the spectrum. Some people looovvvee roses and the amount of time and care needed for roses are not an obstacle. i have met other people who hhaaate roses and the extra demands that roses often require. Both sides have valid points and really a lot of plant hate is based off past bad gardening experiences.
I realize that a bad experience can color anything. Gardening is really no different in that respect. I acknowledge that I may never change my husband's mind on irises and I doubt I'll cange my mind over Bacopa either. It's one thing that I have to keep in mind when coming across other people's plant biases. Everyone has them and listening to the background stories on plant hatreds can reveal a lot about what some one wants in a plant.