Hey, Kelly! I use short bistro tables for my plants on the back deck. They aren't very attractive, but they work well. Josh

I've been wrapping my containers, including the fabric Smart Pots, in blankets cheap ($1.50) reed blinds I found at the Daiso Japan stores to keep them cool. We'll see how they work with temperature here in Southern California being broadcast for 95-106 degrees over the next 4 days. Daiso has a number of stores in California and Washington State. I don't know about the availability/price of these things elsewhere but if you have one of these stores nearby, it's a good place to find some cheap material. I personally think they look pretty good (more natural than a mylar, at least-- not sure how I feel about shiny metal surface on my garden containers :)). More to the point, the dried reed are light colored and hollow so should help block the direct sunlight from the container. Linked below is a picture of a container I wrapped in the reed blind blanket. I took the blinds, cut it down to size, wrap it around the container and tie things up with either strings or zip ties. I also have a few containers (plastic ones and Smart Pots) on concrete (these are the spots with the most sunlight in the smallish yard). I put a piece of one inch thick plywood between the concrete and the container. Maybe not the best solution but should help somewhat. Here is a link that might be useful: This post was edited by DHLCAL on Tue, Apr 29, 14 at 1:27

It would be bad run over one with a tiller though! Root watering is the best method, but still I haven't started that. Next years garden is bigger, sunken in beds, and root watering systems put in too? I am going to be working all year to get it ready for May. I just don't like dragging the hose over my plants. I need 3 to reach, but have 2 that are already after only 1 or 2 years of service are leaking. There are glues to repair them and that will be one of my winter jobs, but still I don't like the hose. It's easy and convenient, but in water restrictions like there were last year, the garden will just die off. I live near a small creek, so 2 55-gallon barrels filled up with creek water sound very nice, plus I may get some rain water to put in them. I just like the idea of this little q-drum. If it were bigger, I'd be sold. I'm still thinking about it. If the pick-up truck can't get my barrels up the hill, the barrels won't roll up because they are too big, this little guy would be a great help. Also there is a good chance of running over the spigot with the mower. We don't always mow ourselves. If I move the garden on the opposite side of the hill, the spigot would be too far away. If I center it, it will be in between them and too far away from both. I like the barrel idea and I like the q-drum, but I am going to look around for a 25 gallon barrel that will roll. This little water carrier saves a lot of back work.

I broke down today and bought 1 gal. chocolate milk so I could get the jug! Also noticed that Deer Park Water has a 1 gal. jug..We like the Turkey Hill green tea with honey and mango but the Diet one only comes in the 1/2 gal. which is what we buy anyway because of hubby being diabetic. The regular came in the 1 gal. jug. A look around the store and I realized there were lots of things that come in plastic containers that could be used for WS..I like Bakemom's explanation "School Project" If I'm caught raiding somebody's recycle bin, I'm going to say "My Grandchild needs it for his/her science project," I didn't think you would mind since it was going out anyway.