Why tires?
Yes, those are tires in my garden. Why tires? There are a couple reasons why someone might consider using tires in the garden.
Yes, those are tires in my garden. Why tires? There are a couple reasons why someone might consider using tires in the garden.
- They're economical. Tire shops have to pay a $4 disposal fee per used tire so when you show up asking for old used tires they're more than happy to help you. I went and asked for largest tires that were on hand and they put in tire bags and loaded them up for me. All for free!
- It helps the environment. You are taking something that would sit in a landfill for decades and recycling it for a greater purpose.
- They make excellent raised beds. The rubber attracts heat which in turn heats the soil inside the tire. Some plants love warm soil and flourish in it.
- They can be very cute. My mom has been doing the tire thing in her garden for years now. Pinterest has helped gardeners everywhere get creative by making the tires bright and festive.
- They can be modified. You can change the location of your tire. They aren't too difficult to move. You can also double and triple stack the tires depending on what you are growing. You can't do that with a typical raised bed.
How to do it
When it came time to choose my tire colors I just decided to go for bright colors. It's playful and fun. After spray painting the tires, I stapled landscaping weed barrier fabric on the insides of the tire which keeps weeds out and still allows for drainage. Next, I filled the tires with soil. You would be surprised how much dirt these hold. You can fill the outer walls with empty milk jugs or 2 liter bottles prior to adding in the dirt. This cuts down on the amount of dirt you will need to use. I believe that each one of my tires held about 2 cubic feet of soil. I have peppers and tomatoes and onions in my tires. The structures in the middle of the tires is a large scale Topsy Turvy. It has 6 openings in it. I put the tomatoes and parsley that I grew from seed into the topsy turvy along with some soil and the veggies love it in there. I like the topsy turvy as well because it's difficult for birds/squirrels to get at the tomatoes. I got the Topsy Turvy's at Big Lots for $6 each.
When it came time to choose my tire colors I just decided to go for bright colors. It's playful and fun. After spray painting the tires, I stapled landscaping weed barrier fabric on the insides of the tire which keeps weeds out and still allows for drainage. Next, I filled the tires with soil. You would be surprised how much dirt these hold. You can fill the outer walls with empty milk jugs or 2 liter bottles prior to adding in the dirt. This cuts down on the amount of dirt you will need to use. I believe that each one of my tires held about 2 cubic feet of soil. I have peppers and tomatoes and onions in my tires. The structures in the middle of the tires is a large scale Topsy Turvy. It has 6 openings in it. I put the tomatoes and parsley that I grew from seed into the topsy turvy along with some soil and the veggies love it in there. I like the topsy turvy as well because it's difficult for birds/squirrels to get at the tomatoes. I got the Topsy Turvy's at Big Lots for $6 each.
Present Day
As you can see, everything is growing quite well. The tomatoes in the tires were transplants that I bought which is why they are larger than the tomato plants in the Topsy Turvy. These tomato plants survived being outside during our Mother's Day spring snowstorm. After applying fertilizer they have recovered just fine!
As you can see, everything is growing quite well. The tomatoes in the tires were transplants that I bought which is why they are larger than the tomato plants in the Topsy Turvy. These tomato plants survived being outside during our Mother's Day spring snowstorm. After applying fertilizer they have recovered just fine!
Here are some other gardening ideas that you can do with tires.
You can create a potato tower. Simply add potatoes on the lowest tire and cover with dirt. As soon as sprouts peek up through the dirt, add the next tire and more dirt. You can repeat this up to 4 tires.
You can simply stack them in a pile and make a home for flowers. You could do this same thing and fill it with herbs instead.
How about a strawberry tire tower? You really can create anything that you want to.