the Retired Garden

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Our tire garden worked so well last year that we are expanding it this year. We are going to be installing 52 units. The soil will be in the bottom two tires and a reflector on top. Total tires required = 156. We ran 1/2" poly under each tire and stubed a piece up the centre of the tire. I used a "T" connector to do this and fastend it to a piece of 1/2" rebar .

The rebar does double duty - holding up the poly and forming a tent for the plastic or horticultural cloth that covers the top.

Its 12 degrees C outside and 25 degrees in a covered tire unit. That should get the soil warmed up in a jiffy. We only managed to get 10 tires up today but we have the method down pat now so we should make better progress tomorrow.

I will have to get more soil as I don't think that I will have enough. Besides I will want to vary the mix for different vegetables. Spuds like sandier soil. I am dealing with some fairly clay soil so it could probably use a few bags of perlite.


Any way it was a nice day, warm once the wind stopped. And I think I may have another convert to the re-tired garden.

Comments

Wendy said…
I love your tire garden. It is incredibly creative. At the moment, I have four tire tiers in which I grow potatoes, but that's all I've been able to convince my husband to let me use. He doesn't like the look of tires. I think he's silly ;). I think making use of what we can find for free or cheap is a good deal and a good idea. Maybe, some day, I'll convince him ;).
8:37 PM
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