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???

Tire Garden: Day Two

Today we worked more on our tire garden, putting in our second row of double-depth tires and another single row.

Now we are out of tires and dirt - we will have to get more of each this coming week so we can make our next double row and two more single rows.

When we finished our rows today, we put in some of our first seeds like this:

Row 1: Back row near fence in single depth tires has 3 tires of snow peas and 3 tires of sweet green peas. We still have to put up the chicken wire just behind these tires so the peas that need to climb will have a place to go.

Row 2: This first row of double depth tires beside the peas will get our potato starts the middle of this coming week.

Next we left space for a walkway, then:

Row 3: Right now this row has 3 double depth tires - we'll be adding 3-4 more to this row this week. In the 3 that we filled with dirt today, we planted one full of carrots, one full of radishes and one full of beets.
Side Row 1: This is a row of six single depth tires. In those today we planted one of bibb lettuce, two of mesclun blend, one of romaine lettuce, and two of spinach. See the bricks in the spaces between the tires in this picture? We had these extra bricks lying around, so we decided to fill behind them with dirt and between the tires we will plant marigold, nasturtium and other flowering plants. The picture doesn't show it, but we actually put the bricks 2 high so there is plenty of dirt.
Side Row 2: This row is pending and will go in behind Row 1 when we get more tires and will be used for succession planting of the things we have in Row 1.

Then we'll do another single row in the next week or so for me to put in some various herbs.

Also today we got our tomato and pepper seeds started indoors so they'll be ready to transplant in mid-late April after our last frost.

Another neat thing about the tire gardening - I took a Sharpie marker and wrote directly on the tire what I planted and the date. In addition, I always keep a journal with a layout of the beds, what we planted, how we will succession plant and rotate, any weather notes I need to make, any notes about natural bug treatments or fertilizing, etc.

How are your garden plans coming along? Share those ideas with us!

Tire Garden: Day One

Saturday we started putting in our tire garden. It is taking shape very nicely and I'm excited about getting started with our planting.

We started by getting tires. Most tire-change stores will gladly give you as many used tires as you care to take away with you. The stores have to pay to have the tires disposed of and they'd be just as happy for you to carry them away for them. We are fortunate that there is a little neighborhood tire change store a few blocks from our house, which made it pretty easy for us to get a few truck loads.

Hubby then went to pick up our first truckload full of fabulously mulched soil. Now, we are fortunate again here because our midwife, who has 400 acres in the next county, also has a deal with her little city that they dump all of the leaves at a certain spot on her property and have for years and years. This has become a terrific mulch yard and she has allowed us to come get whatever we need. Great, huh?

If you don't have a nifty midwife with a ton of land in your neck of the woods, you can either use your own soil and compost that you've put together, or you can try to find a nursery or similar business in your area that sells mulch and soil by the truck load.

Next we decided where in our backyard we wanted to put our tire garden and how we wanted to arrange it. We've decided to have about 4 rows of 7-8 tires each down one side of our yard set off from the fence a bit.

We left about a foot of space off the fence line, as I didn't want the tires right up against the wooden fence.

On the back row closest to the fence, we've decided to put a row of six single tires. This will be the planting space for our climbing veggies - peas, beans and cucumbers. Just behind these tires we're going to put up about a 12 foot stretch of chicken wire that we have on hand so the veggies will have a place to climb.

The next row is seven tires that are 2 deep for our potatoes. We like potatoes and want to have a good harvest, so we decided to put in 7 tires full. We will begin planting our first potatoes this week.

First we put cardboard under the hole in the tire to keep the dirt from washing out and to help keep the weeds from coming up into the tire. We just went to our local recycling center and picked up small boxes, pizza boxes, etc. that would work for our purpose. Yes, some people thought it was strange that we were taking recycling out of the bins, so I told them about tire gardening and suggested that they try doing one of their own!
Next we fill the tire about half way with dirt and pushed it into the sides of the tire. My middle daughter (age 6), then added a few handfuls of worm castings before we put in the rest of the dirt. We continued this process for our first two rows until darkness and hunger made us stop for the night!

These first two rows are right up against each other. The little spaces between the tires we also filled with dirt and will use to plant our flowering plants like marigold, nasturtium and the like.
We'll then have a walkway about the width of one tire. The next row will be 7-8 tires that are 2 deep for our tomatoes, peppers, squash, etc.

At the end of one row we're going to turn and go down the other side with a single row of about 7-8 tires that will have our lettuces, spinach, herbs, etc.

I'll keep you posted along the way with photos and tips we've learned - let me know what you think!

Tire Gardening

We have TERRIBLE soil in West Tennessee - hard, dry and not very hospitable to growing your garden veggies without a lot of prep work. Because of this, many people have turned to raised bed gardening or square foot gardening. These methods are great, but there can be quite an expense involved if you decide to make your raised beds out of wood (which will eventually rot) or out of concrete block / stone.

This year we are going to embark on a new technique - Tire Gardening. Similar to container gardening, but hospitable to a greater variety of vegetable plants because you can increase the depth of your tire garden spot just by adding an additional tire. This method is also great for those who have little gardening space, because you can tire garden on your patio if you want - no large expanses of yard are required.

This method involves no digging, is weed resistant, bug resistant, holds heat, is easy to water and employs the methods of square foot gardening that we are very familiar with.

Not to mention, used tires by the truckload are usually available free of charge - the tire change businesses actually have to PAY to have the used tires removed. Most places now even charge a tire disposal fee for discarding your old tires whenever you buy new ones.

We are getting our first tires this weekend and will get them in place so that we can put out our potato plants next week. We'll keep you updated here along the way - sharing our triumphs and any failures.

In the meantime, here are some great places you can look to read more about this method of gardening:

Backwoods Home: A New Use For Old Tires

How To Recycle Old Tires Into Garden Planters - you can use your tires as they are when you receive them, or you can turn them into works of art. This site even has links for many more things you can make with recycled tires.

Here are some FLICKR photos of tire gardening you might want to review: Tire Gardening Photos

Let me know what you think! Are you going to try this? Have you gardened using tires before? Share your thoughts - we'd love to know how it has worked for you.