Funny there should be a message about tire gardening..I've just spent the morning collecting a whole pile of old tires from my local tire fitters. I cut the side walls out with an electric jig saw, both sides, then pile them up to about 3 high. They can make a great sun collecting wind break type wall for protecting more tender crops beneath them. I am not growing potatoes in mine, but you start by putting the spud in the bottom tire, then adding tires and soil as they grow, up to about 4 high I think. If you have a whole load in a row you can set up a drip hose with a tiny hole over each stack. Sarah

-- sarah matthess (william@matthess.freeserve.co.uk), March 25, 2000

Answers

Kurt Saxon has a really interesting and informative article about tire gardening. He cuts them and turns them inside out, also uses soda bottles for watering devices. You might want to check out what he has to say at kurtsaxon.com

I have 78 tires last count, planted with various things. I didn't cut them. I set them on the ground and packed leaves and pine needles and some shredded newspapers in the sidewalls and across the bottom, then filled with compost and garden dirt. They warm up early inthe spring, but in the summer you can barely touch them, they get so hot! Some plants thrive in them and some you have to really watch and make sure they have water and lots of mulch on the top. A row of tires is not exactly the best way to beautify your landscape! However, I had really hard clay soil and they do make great small garden beds. I also experimented by making a few large circles of them and then heaping my soft dirt and compost in the middle for a larger bed for an elderberry bush, etc.

To try to make my garden look better, I have planted day lillies in the litte V's where I have the tires side by side, and when I find them, bring rocks to put around the edges. In the summer when everything is growing, the tires are not obvious at all, but in the winter it's not very pretty!

There was a very nice article in the magazine Coastal Living either last spring or the spring before that of a man who had a huge tire garden. He stacked his tires two and three high and painted them all white. They had some photos and the way he had everything arranged, it looked lush and productive and very attractive.

-- Elizabeth Petofi (tengri@cstone.net), March 26, 2000.

I second Elizabeth's observation. I have used a tire "raised bed" for some of my herbs, and you have to be careful to water them often, or at least check them daily. They DO get very warm, and dry out quickly. On the other hand, I have seen some nice beds made of the big tractor tires. Lots of pace to grow whatever you want. Tractor tires also make nice kid's sand boxes, if you can keep the kitties out of them!!!!

-- Leann Banta (thelionandlamb@hotmail.com), March 27, 2000.