Tire Garden Update - Day 13

We've worked more on our tire garden since I last updated about our initial efforts to get it all in place. We've added additional tires, planted additional veggies and I've had to make some temporary "walls" to keep my Great Pyrenees from digging up the single-height tires.

If you missed the introductions, you can read how we got everything started here: Tire Gardening-Day One and Tire Gardening-Day Two.

We basically have 5 total rows of tires at this point. To refresh:

Along one side of our fence, about a foot out from the fence, we have a row of 6 single-height tires that are currently planted with snow peas and sweet peas. Behind this row we will be putting up a chicken-wire fence so the peas (and later the green beans and cucumbers) can climb. All of the peas were planted on 08 Mar 2009.
The next row out from this is a row of 6 double-height tires that have potatoes planted in them. These were planted on 12 Mar 2009.

There is about a 3 foot aisle, then another row of 6 double-height tires. Currently 3 of these are planted: one with radishes, one with beets and one with carrots. The radishes are going gangbusters and the green tops are already over an inch tall. The carrots and beets are just starting to peek out. All of these items were planted on 08 Mar 2009. Photo below is of the radishes that were planted 08 Mar 2009.
When the radishes, carrots and beets are all exhausted sometime around Memorial Day, this is the row where some of our tomatoes and sweet peppers will go in.

To the side of these three rows, we have a oval row of single-height tires for all of our assorted greens. Six tires were planted on 08 Mar 2009 - 2 of mesclun blend, 2 of spinach, 1 of bibb lettuce and 1 of romaine lettuce. They are all growing well, with the mesclun leading the way.

This week on 18 Mar 2009 we put in another 6 tires of the same blends so the planting is staggered and when our first row runs out, we'll have another row ready right behind them. We'll continue this staggered planting back and forth until it is too warm for these greens, and we'll then put in mustard greens, swiss chard and the like.

For this oval row, we laid weed mat and left about a 2-foot space in the center of the oval. We filled this with dirt as well and divided it into 3 sections. In one section we planted more radishes, another section of beets and a section of green onions. These were all planted on 18 Mar 2009 In this photo you can see my "wall of tires" meant to keep my curious dogs out! In this photo, the greens planted on 08 Mar 2009 are on the left; the radishes, onions and beets are in the center; and the greens planted on 18 Mar 2009 are on the right. The straw is just to keep the tiny seeds from getting disturbed during watering or rain until they get a good start.

We have another section of ground on the other side of our yard from last year's square foot garden and this is where our hot peppers will go sometime after our last freeze date (approximately 15 April 2009).

In addition, we are also going to do our hanging tomatoes this year - we have an old swingset frame that we're going to use to hang our buckets on. Click the link to watch a YouTube video and find out more about hanging tomatoes - it is a very unique idea that would work for a lot of you gardeners out there! Hanging Tomatoes.

On another great gardening note, our church this year is letting me lead a Community Garden, which is very exciting. We have about a 50 foot x 50 foot space that was set aside this week. I'm working this weekend to sketch out individual food plots as well as a church plot and putting together my plan for ordering seeds. The thought is to let families that want to learn how to garden or who don't have room for a garden where they live to have a 8 ft x 8 ft or 10 ft x 10 ft space that they can cultivate - in turn everyone will also cultivate a larger church plot in the same area. Families will keep the harvest from their own food plots and the church plot harvest will go to those in need at our church or will be distributed as the church decides. This is an exciting project that I'm eager to get started.

How are your gardening plans shaping up this year???