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!