Gardener Builds An Epic Raised Garden Entirely From Tires
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Drivers in the US wear out around 280 million tires every year. It presents a major recycling headache, and when you need a new set for your vehicle, the tire shop might add as much as $8 each to dispose of the old ones. If you want to save a few bucks, you can take them home instead and turn them into raised garden beds. If you like the idea of making a really epic raised garden and need more than four, then auto shops or salvage yards are worth checking out.
On YouTube, Propagate Farm demonstrates how straightforward it is to use old tires. Our ultimate guide to starting a raised bed garden also has valuable advice. If you live in the north, black tires can help warm the soil, extending the growing season. However, in the South, this can be a problem, so painting them lighter helps reflect some of the heat. You might want to do it anyway, just to brighten them up. Rust-Oleum 2X Ultra Cover should do the trick and offers 150 colors to choose from.
You'll want a reasonably level area to put the tires so that rain doesn't wash the soil out before root growth binds it together. If you're laying them on dirt, put landscape fabric in the bottom to help stop weeds from growing through. Fill with a mixture of half compost (free if you know how to make your own compost) and half topsoil, and your garden is ready to plant up.
What to plant in your old tire raised garden and what not to
The Propagate Farm video shows the basics with a single tire, but you can stack two or three on top of each other if you like, giving greater depth for deep-rooted plants and meaning there's less bending over to look after them. Going taller than that isn't necessary, wastes soil, and risks them being unstable. You can plant them up with whatever flowers appeal to you. If you like succulents, adding grit to the soil to improve drainage will help.
You should not grow vegetables or other edible plants in old tires. Some of the materials and chemicals used in their manufacture are toxic. These can leech out into the soil, and from there into any vegetables planted in them. Although the amounts involved might not seem to affect their growth, they aren't something you and your family want to be eating. Turning old tires into raised beds is an eco-friendly, low-cost way to benefit from the advantages that gardening this way offers. There are lots of ways to repurpose tires in your backyard, so you can be creative, save money, and reduce the number that go into landfill every year.