So I tried a new thing this year, Walls of Water. Basically, this is a product that allows you to plant your tender and very tender vegetables earlier, offering them some protection. It is like a circle of tubes that you fill with water. The water collects energy and heat from the sun and warms the soil and air around the plant.

I bought two kinds, the original Walls O Water, and another kind.

In the original one, all the little tubes to fill with water are the same size. In the other kind, there were a couple of super skinny tubes on each side, which made them harder to fill. The trade off–the other kind were not connected all the way to the top, creating a trough that made it easier to fill. Both worked equally well, as far as I can tell.

This is what they look like. I put my tomato cages around them to protect them from little boys. When it’s really cold, you push out a little water and make them like a tee-pee. This really keeps the warm air inside. But when the sun shines and temps rise, be sure to open them up or they fry the plants.

Here’s a look inside. You can see the tubes with water (turning green from the sun) and the tomato plant growing happily.

I just started taking my walls away, since the weather has improved and the tomatoes started growing out the top!

This cherry tomato plant is the only one on the east side, which gets full afternoon sun. I think the walls of water made it too hot, and fried it. This plant would have been better off without the walls.

But then check out this tomato plant. The squares on the cage are 6″ apart, so it’s easy to see that this plant is 18-24″ tall. Considering I’m in week 3 and would normally just be planting my tomatoes outside, the walls gave me a significant head start. You can see my radishes growing nearby–I harvested two and more will be ready soon!

Here is my “spring” garden bed–filled with peas, cilantro, lettuce, and broccoli. The broccoli looks great, doesn’t it? Well, look again:

I’ve got HUGE plants (taking up 4 squares) and not a stick of broccoli. For comparison, this is where I was last year with broccoli:

The plants were much smaller, but already had small heads of broccoli on them. I’m pretty sure I know what the problem is. Most plants have a window of time to transplant them, and I missed it. Instead of starting these from seed according to my schedule, I had a chance to buy some transplants early in the season. That was great, but I had to keep them inside for several weeks (almost a month) and by the time I got them planted they had missed the window. I will probably pull these up and plant something else in the space instead.

And here’s a quick snapshot of my peppers and potatoes. The peppers look a little yellow and sad–I’m going to add egg shell water today, as well as fertilizer. The potatoes are great–I already covered them up with more dirt.

First, I have to show you one of the things on my gardening wish list that I finally got:

These are Sloggers Gardening Boots. I love that I have something to slip on quickly, tromp in the dirt and water, and not ruin my athletic shoes. The downside–I MUST wear socks, and they can be hot. In retrospect, I might have ordered a half or full size larger, so they slipped on more easily, and would breathe a little more. Still, I’m happy as a clam.

Oh, and I have to tuck in my pants, making me look a bit like a Cossack.

Here’s the north east garden bed. I have a Sweet 100 cherry tomato plant, protected by Wall O Water. Next to that is my parsley that I started inside. You can’t see them, but there are a smattering of small plants growing as well. They’re still tiny. And of course the gravel donated by my 3 year old and his friend.

Next is the middle east garden, planted with peppers, eggplant, and potatoes. Again, I grew the peppers and eggplant from seed, and hardened them off for at least a week before transplanting. Here’s a step-by-step on planting the potatoes:

First, I emptied the garden bed so there was just a few inches of dirt left.

This is where I’m storing my dirt to be used as the plants grow.

Next I placed the potatoes one per square, and then covered them with dirt. Notice the tomatoes are already starting to sprout.

And a nice pic of the peppers and eggplant, just before they were transplanted. Note: I have LOVED the way I labeled the plants this year. I used labels–literally. Like address labels. I wrote in permanent marker what I planted, stuck it to the side, and voila! They stayed on well enough to last through the season, but are now easy to remove.

And here is my south east garden bed with the onions–my beds are 12″ tall, and the onions are at least that tall now. Nothing like a little fertilizer!

On the other side of the yard are my tomatoes, in more Walls O Water. I planted radishes around the outside (see close up below).

I still need to get out there and thin them down to one per spot, using scissors.

And here is my new trellis! I’m so excited about it. I bought a cattle panel, and bent it in an arch over my 4×8 garden bed, on the inside. I bought 4 concrete stakes that have small holes through them, pounded them into the corners, then wired the fencing to the stakes. I’m planning to grow peas, cucumbers, and maybe some pumpkins up and around. Hopefully it will provide shade for the cool-weather veggies in this garden bed.

Kale, growing in the 4×8 bed pictured above. Green smoothies, here we come!

This is a radicchio plant I bought. It’s looking great!

My last garden bed, with 4 tomato plants. I just checked and the Walls O Water are probably overheating them. I need to open them in the morning, and close them like a tee pee at night.

This is what the tomatoes look like in the Walls O Water. This one is happy, but a few of the others look overheated.

So that’s how my garden is doing this week. I’ve also updated some of my irrigation, which I’ll do a post on soon!