I leave the tires intact. Properly spaced we can mow around them. I get skidder, tractor or loader tires, the wider the better, then cut out one side of the tire to create a planter. The best are very wide (width of tread) but not very tall (height of tire on vehicle). I lay stiff plastic (old swimming pool side works great, as does old plywood covered with plastic sheeting or vinyl), fill with dirt and compost and use them to plant my garden each spring. I've got two that just have multiple layers of black plastic which is held in place by the weight of the dirt inside. The tires can be moved using the tractor (slide the bucket under one side, lash around the tire to the bucket with strap or chain). The biggest ones we don't lift completely off the ground to move . . . we just lift half the tire and slide the rest. I raise tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers and lettuce.
One tire has a bottom that sealed too well. I've drilled holes around the bottom edge to allow for drainage. This one has my biggest grape plant, so it must like it . . .
Here in the NW we need the heat the tire absorbs, so they stay black. I have one tire that has been turned inside out, which changes the shape of the tire, making it taller. That tire has an semi-dwarf red delicious apple tree in it. Each spring I plant petunias around the base of the apple tree and it's beautiful all summer. I have three tires with grapes, the deepest one doing the best. These tires will eventually be cut away so the grapes can go into the ground around the new papercrete (this spring <fingers crossed>) pumphouse. I thought of trying a mix of wisteria and grape, but I have too many grapes and not enough wisteria, so will save the wisteria for another place . . . maybe permanent planter boxes attached to the chicken house so when it moves the wisteria moves with it . . . hmmm. That would provide shade for the chickens in the summer and expose their papercrete chicken house to the sun in the winter. Hmmm. Needs more thought. Keeping the chicken house moveable is a must.
I have ways to keep the cold and rain off and the heat in in spring and fall for the tires growing tomatoes and lettuce. I have a round plexiglass dome I lay over one tire in the spring to create a cold box for starting plants. I wish I had a couple more. I could plant the seeds where they go instead of transplanting after they're started. I'm going to experiment, starting earlier this year . . . middle of March, I think. I think the thermal mass of the tire will retain enough heat to make that feasible. I'll have to keep track of the internal temperature (with plexiglass dome on) to see when I can start. I think a target temp of ~70° might be where I need to start.
Because I have free range chickens I put stakes inside the tire around the outside edge and run a piece of black water pipe around the top. I hang 2' chicken wire off that. It's tall enough to discourage the chickens, but low enough I can reach in and garden or harvest. With a stake in the middle with a tennis ball on top, I can make a cold frame tent. Lay the plastic sheet on and drop another hoop of pipe over the hoop holding up the chicken wire. Easy. The whole thing disassembles quickly in the fall and is stored for the following year.
When the house is finally in <fingers crossed that it's soon> I will build more attractive stay in place planters to hold my garden. After having movable raised beds I won't go back to grubbing around at ground level. Being able to shuffle the tires around satisfies my occasional desire to "redecorate".
ElfN
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2008 8:17 AM
Subject: [papercreters] Re: Raised Garden Bed in New Jersey (Now off-topic, sorry)
Hello Mike,
Have you considered truck tires for your sides? You can get free truck tires, use a saber saw to cut the side walls out and make one cut across the tread so that you can straighten the tire out. Cut lengths of rebar and put a "J" on one end. Drive the rebar down into the ground so that the "J" is over the tire and holds it in place. I use it on both sides of the tire, alternating the side every other one. I drill holes in the ends of the tires and use stainless bolts to bolt the ends together so they're longer. For corners I use a short "T" post driven into the ground. The "T" posts make handy hangers for row covers, buckets, and bed markers. I also use the "T" posts to hold netting over the Dahlia bed so the plants don't fall over in the wind and break. This year I'm thinking of putting some 6' "T" posts on one side of one of the beds and making a jute trellis for pole beans. That way at the end of the season I can just cut the trellis down and throw dead vines, trellis and all, into the compost. Sure beats picking dead vines out of a wire trellis. ;) If it works I'll put everything that'll climb onto a jute trellis.
I put the tire tread on the inside, prime and paint the outside (which is the inside of the tire) because in South Texas I don't need the heat that the black absorbs.
The tire walls last forever, aren't hurt by the weed eater I use to mow the paths, don't leach anything into the soil, recycle something that is typically thrown into a land fill, and other than an occasional coat of paint they're maintenance free. Living in New Jersey you wouldn't even need to paint them. If you don't want to buy stainless bolts you could drill several small holes in the ends and use aluminum wire to tie them together (I use the wire typically used for electric fencing for LOTS more than fencing). J
Good luck!
Pat
South-Central TX
--- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, "mikestj65" <michael@...> wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> I've been looking for a material to make raised bed gardens and
> intrigued with the possibility of papercrete.
>
> Was considering plastic lumber made from recycled plastics but the
> cost is absolutely astronomical.
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