Quicken tomato growth with Wall O' Waters

Kenny, a good friend of mine, and I used to see who could have the first ripe tomato every summer. So I was always on the lookout for ways to raise and produce a ripe tomato before he did. Years ago I read an article on a lady in Kansas using Wall O' Waters to extend her growing season. She claimed that if one used Wall O' Waters, one could plant tomatoes up to six weeks earlier. When I first read the article, I wondered if they would work, so I had to try them. Six weeks earlier sounded like my first ripe tomato would beat his. It did!

Since then I've used Wall O' Waters, or season extenders, off and on. I first bought a pack of three, which worked for the first summer. After that I bought some more until I ended up with 12, I believe. They do make a difference. With our last frost here in Scott City being somewhere between the middle to end of April, we can plant tomatoes about the third week in March to the first of April using Wall O' Waters. By planting this early, one is looking at picking their first tomatoes by the end of May or first part of June. It takes about eight or nine weeks from transplanting good tomato plants to ripe tomatoes.

Almost any kind of tomato will work in the WOW (Wall O' Waters). However, one that is particularly suited for them is Stupice. Stupice is a really hardy tomato that, when mature, will stand a light frost. It is a cold-hardy tomato that produces 1 1/2- to 2-inch fruit. With leaves that resemble those on potato plants, this little jewel comes to us from the former country of Czechoslovakia. It is an indeterminate. It's almost too late to start your own seed this year, so check with nurseries in your region. Early Girl will work, but it isn't as cold-tolerant as Stupice.

The Wall O' Waters, or season extenders, usually come in packs of three. They will cost somewhere around $15 to $20, plus shipping, for a pack of three. You can check the local stores, but most likely you will have to order them over the Internet. Burpees carries them and so does Morgan County Seeds. They are called Season Starters No. 649 in Morgan County. It's up to you how many to order, but I'm pretty sure you will wish later you had ordered a couple extra.

Plant your tomato plant just like you normally do. If the tomato is tall and leggy, you can plant it deep. Water the plant in with a water/fertilizer mix using a high middle number fertilizer like 8-56-9 or 9-45-15. I've used both of these.

Now that you have your tomato plant planted, we need a 5-gallon bucket with the bottom cut out. I take a 5-gallon plastic bucket and cut around the side of the bucket about 1/4 to 1/2 inch up the side. I use a jig saw. What you don't want is a rim on the inside of the bucket. I usually remove the handle.

Now set the bucket over the newly planted tomato plant, centering it on the tomato plant. Put the cut end down. Now slide one of the WOW over the bucket with the openings of the sleeves up. Once you have the WOW in place, you can fill all the sleeves with water until they are about half full or a little more. Normally I think there are 18 little sleeves. Then carefully lift the bucket out of the Wall O' Waters. It should stand up, forming a kind of teepee around the tomato. Now go ahead and fill the sleeves the rest of the way up. Mick, my brother in Nebraska, doesn't use a bucket. He sets the WOW around the tomato plant and then slowly runs water in the sleeves a little at a time.

The best time to plant your tomatoes and put the Wall O' Waters around them is on a decently warm day, but not hot. This will allow your tomato plant some time to acclimate to the WOW, but also allow the water in the sleeves to warm up. The warm water in the sleeves surrounds the tomato with enough heat to stand some of the coldest nights. If there is a heavy frost forecast, you can cover the top of the WOW with the bottom of the bucket or something.

When the danger of frost is past, say May 1 or so here in Scott City, depending on the weather, you need to get the WOW off your tomato plants. It is nice to have another pair of hands to do this. I grip opposite sides of the WOW at the top and simply lift it off the plant. Once off the plant, I usually let the water in the sleeves run around the plant. Voilà -- you now have a tomato that has been in the ground growing and developing roots for five or six weeks earlier than normal.

You can now spray off your WOW and allow them to dry. I'd store them out of the sunlight and where mice and such can't get to them. With care, these same WOW will last for years and years. I have some that are at least 10 years old. If one of the sleeves gets a hole in it, there are repair kits. You simply slide an individual sleeve down the bad hole. These repair kits are relatively inexpensive.

Handy water device

I made a simple and cheap device to help me fill my Wall O' Waters many years ago. It fits on any garden hose. You will need three pieces, which you can buy at your local hardware store. You will need a simple plastic hose shutoff, a plastic hose cap and a 12- or 14-inch plastic stool supply line. Right in the center of the hose cap, drill a 3/8-inch hole.

Slide the stool supply line through the cap and screw it on the end of the hose shutoff. It really works great to fill the tubes on the Wall O' Waters. This water deal also works really well to hose out bottles and such.

Until next time.