Tire gardening anyone?

[MBLayfield]

Has anyone here heard of container gardening in tires? I have a ton of them and did some reading on it and it seems interesting. I'm not convinced that's the way i"m going, but was thinking about it. I've also heard you can even grow potatoes in them just keep stacking as the plant comes up. I've read there is no danger in leaching from the tire and the tires keep the soil warmer longer as fall goes into winter. Anyone doing this now?

 

[Nifty]

You mean like this?

Almost all the stuff in my avatar came from these tires. My wife's grandpa originally built them for strawberries (raised so you don't have to bend down) but they worked fine for tomatoes, leeks, onions, peppers, etc.

 

[MBLayfield]

You mean like this?


Almost all the stuff in my avatar came from these tires. My wife's grandpa originally built them for strawberries (raised so you don't have to bend down) but they worked fine for tomatoes, leeks, onions, peppers, etc.

Exactly like that! That looks awesome! Obviously it has worked well for your wifes grandpa. I saw an article on this type of gardening somewhere and it said to cut the top and bottom of the tire so you have just a wall. Is that what these are or are they just stacked? Do you know if there is a benefit to doing it one way or another?

I was also thinking of doing a few of these after I get the tire garden going.
http://www.wuvie.net/tireplanter.htm

 

[Nifty]

I honestly don't remember. I barely recall that the top ones may have been cut, but that the bottom ones weren't? I don't know if it was for drainage purposes or for more room to grow.

 

[hsm5grls]

We planted pumpkin in tires last year and didn't cut the tires at all just plopped them on the ground and filled them with soil....The only draw back here was that it gets real hot and the black of the tire heats up fast. If I do it again I think I will paint the tire and see if it cuts down on the watering and heat. We did get a few pumpkins though.

 

[patandchickens]

I'm not sure whether the leaching issue has been really *properly* studied, in a tire planter sort of sense (that is, using oooold tires, as they tend to be). I know that the tide has turned in various directions over the years -- don't use tires, yay tires, don't use them, now we seem to be back to a lot of people saying they are probably more or less ok. I guess personally I would do it in newish tires but not in the crusty old ones that have been sitting in the sun for five years since they were taken off the tire (or at least, not to feed children from plants grown there).

Two things to remember: that warming-the-soil effect that's so great in spring can *cook* the roots of sensitive plants in summer, so you want to stick with heat lovers, especially if you do ultra tall towers like Rob's. And also, they will need a bunch more water than ordinary non raised non tire-encircled gardening, so it only works if you can and will put the extra water in.

I've never grown in tires myself, but I know plenty of people who have, and it generally seems to work well. Specially for things like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, melons.

Good luck,

Pat