Have you heard about these Wall O Water things? Lots of people use them here. They’re little plastic tents you fill with water and put them around your seedlings so you can put them outside sooner. Anyhow, I thought I’d try a few of them this year. Also I read that you can grow tomatoes in five-gallon buckets. Since they’re cheap and a cheery orange color, I thought I’d try them, too.

The buckets needed holes put in them for drainage.

I decided to put them out in the parking lot (junkyard) because last year when I put them on the deck, it became too shady as the trees got their leaves. Once I put them out in the parking lot, they did a lot better. Unfortunately it was too late in the season and I didn’t get any ripe tomatoes before it got cold again.

It took us a few minutes to figure out how to assemble the Wall O Water because the directions were for using them in the ground, not in pots. We put the stakes in, then pulled the Wall O Water over them, tucked in the excess, then filled the channels with water.

Then we planted the little seedlings inside. I did two per bucket. They’re cherry tomatoes so two per bucket should be fine.

They didn’t want to close on top like they’re supposed to, to form a sort of teepee. So we just tied them up with twine.

This is what the one in the picture above looked like after just a week of being in the Wall O Water. The others are also doing pretty well. Not sure if these are doing better, worse, or the same as the ones in the house.

Here’s the inside setup:

Pea progress within two or three weeks.

String bean progress over two or three weeks.

Mixed window box of morning glories, catnip, sunflowers, and cosmos.

Wildflowers — they are just about ready to go live outside.

Have you ever started seedlings inside before? How do nurseries get those big plants they sell at this time of year? Start sooner? Use bigger lights? I know they’re big huge professional production places but still, there must be a way for regular people to do it.