Date: 2/2/2003 10:03:55 PM Eastern Standard Time From: (Missy) Ok, with the obvious exception of things like watermelons and pumpkins..do you think it is possible I can get away with planting everything else in tires? Have looked and looked and have had no luck finding ANYTHING to border out regular raised beds...think this is possible.. dh knows where we can get all the tires we could want and then some and I am slap out of ideas as to what to do. It won't look the prettiest in the world, but it will get my stuff growing at least...opinions???? ****************************************************************************** Date: 2/2/2003 10:42:14 PM Eastern Standard Time From: (Cynthia) I've grown veggies in tires.  They do just fine, especially the heat loving ones.  I have heard about toxins in the veggies, but have not noticed any ill effects from it.  As for pumpkins and such, just plant them directly into haybales and water with manure tea.  Works great. ******************************************************************************* Date: 2/2/2003 10:51:00 PM Eastern Standard Time From: (Mike V) Why would you *not* plant watermelons and pumpkins in tire gardens? If regular tires are too small in your opinion - there's always 18 wheeler tires or even tractor tires. Treat it like any other raised bed I guess. Some trim the walls off and perhaps soap off road-grim and whatnot. ******************************************************************************* Date: 2/2/2003 10:56:48 PM Eastern Standard Time From: (Missy) well, last time I grew watermelons they went EVERYWHERE and I do mean everywhere..chocked the life out of everything around them and they were in a 12x12 raised bed..they grew out of the bed and about 7-9 feet out into the yard as well...didn't think I could keep them contained in tires ***************************************************************************** Date: 2/2/2003 11:03:20 PM Eastern Standard Time From: (Mike V) Hee - if you can't contain them in tires, you can't contain them anywhere. Hmmm - it sounds like they *really* liked it - take advantage of the additional growth. One regular tire per vine seems about right. Grouping, companioning with vine-tolarant plants like corn and sunflower and going out and moving vines would take care of much of the overtaking problem. Also watch the leaf to fruit balance. ******************************************************************************* Date: 2/2/2003 11:11:44 PM Eastern Standard Time From: (Missy) Ok, now you lost me. One tire(that means one tire high too, right) would contain one watermelon vine????? and leaf to fruit balance? Remember, I am a newbie, lol. I grew them that one time and the wound up getting run over with the lawn mower. So how do I keep a watermelon vine in the tire? wrap the vine round and round and take off leaves? Can we tell I am clueless about gardening, lol missy-who is REALLY trying to learn, I swear!! ******************************************************************************* Date: 2/2/2003 11:23:24 PM Eastern Standard Time From: (Mike V) I'm sorry - think of the tire as a pot. You'd have several of these "pots" in whatever location you're growing them in - like a bunch of little raised gardens. One, two high - it's purely personal - but vining plants will drape over the sides and travel around - excepting those with fruits small enough to trellis. Directing them helps. Leaf and fruit balance - if your vine is all leaf with few flowers when it should be flowering chances are the soil is too rich in nitrogen. So if it's going haywire but not producing - that's a classic symptom. However, organic methods do tend to balance things out... ******************************************************************************* Date: 2/2/2003 11:42:42 PM Eastern Standard Time From: (Missy) Ok, so pretty much for each watermelon I want to plant I need to have 3-4 tires lined up(around or something like that) and as they grow I need to direct them into one of the other tires since I don't want it to hit the ground at all, right..should 3-4 be enough to hold them? amount of tires isn't a problem..we have found a pretty unlimited source, actually several places said "come get them all!!!!", lol.  Boy, I am going to have tires all over my yard aren't I, lol, this is going to be a sight to see...must go get more stuff to make compost!! missy ******************************************************************************* Date: 2/2/2003 11:49:13 PM Eastern Standard Time From: (Mike V) Actually, if you can grow a low growing groundcover between pots like dutch white clover (legume and mycorrhizal innoculated), that shouldn't be too much of a problem. Then when the fruits form you can toss some dry mulch under it for additional rot protection... The guiding of the vines would largely ensure you've a place to walk and to make sure they're not overtaking plants like your 'maters... I've see these beds with little walkways between covered with gravel or grass or clover. It certainly makes for an interesting garden... ******************************************************************************* Date: 2/2/2003 11:48:06 PM Eastern Standard Time From: (Topper/Linda) Missy, I've seen beautiful tire gardens... you can put them in groups and plant them in the style of a square foot garden... You drill some holes in the side walls on the bottom sides so that water doesn't collect and sour the soil... fill the tires with soil and the square/diamond shaped that are formed where the tires come together.. you can then plant inside the tires themselves and in those spaces between the tires as well... You can paint the tires or leave them plain... I like the painted ones the best... The most elaborate one that I saw cut the side walls off... so that just the treads were left...like rings.. and they were stacked pyramid style - like the pyramid planters I talk about making on my site... and then filled the rings with dirt and plant away... the tires were all painted different colors.. like a rainbow.. I would have preferred a single, neutral color.. but it sure looked neat! One guy I knew had horrible soil in his yard and a large cement slab that the previous owners had parked a camper on... He made tire planters by cutting out the side walls and stacking two tires together, to make it deeper.. then filling with soil .. putting them on the cement slab... had a huge garden that way... painted the outside of the 'groupings' of tires white.. that looked really neat. I had some tires on my property when I moved. in, they had cut the side walls, maybe a dozen times.. from the inside where the wheel fits out to the tread and then turned the tire inside out.. they then painted the 'petals' that were made by those slashes being turned.. and it looked like a big flower... filled it with dirt and made it a planter.... My Geraniums, started from seed, by me... loved those tires! Let your imagination fly and use what you have available to you! ******************************************************************************* Date: 2/2/2003 11:52:35 PM Eastern Standard Time From: (Ellen) Missy if you want to get an idea of what will grow in tires try this site: www.tirecrafting.com ******************************************************************************* Date: 2/3/2003 3:14:48 AM Eastern Standard Time From: (jon) My tires are for growing food, not for beauty. If you want to make them really pretty, use the homemade paint shown in our files-organic paint for them most part. I have one 16-inch tire that I cut daisy like and turned it outside in, this I have hen and chickens growing in, another kinda like it, I have forgot it's name: LaNell sent me some seed for that flower: moss like, it blooms red, orange, yellow, dainty-neat, quite beautiful. I use 16 to 19-inch tires for growing potatoes in close to the house in protected spots for boiled taters most all winter. Tandem dump truck tires keeps me in early greens: lettuce, radish, spinach, and such into freezing weather in winter, and right now I have these almost ready to eat, new in tires under glass outside. In my larger tires: and I have (Jon stops and counts--Nine of them) these are the older cotton braid equipment real rubber tires off earthmovers: 33-inches in diameter. There, I will soon be starting a few special precious seed in I want to be sure to have a start of: Toni's heirloom tomato, Dee's heirloom tomato, and the ones LaNell just sent me. Plus a few hybrid tomatoes I used to have Amish grow for me when I had an old general store up on the lakes. I have some gooseberry cuttings now rooting in one of these tires: cuban oregano rooting in another one: the remaining ones will be for seed starting in another few weeks. I probably could start them now even tho the temps will be back down into the 12 degree readings by end of the week, with snow predicted. But, if I did, the plants would be too big for practical transplanting into the garden. You don't want a plant that is really big: certainly not plants that are already in bloom, if you buy them, don't buy ones like that.  Also, if you live in zone 5 or higher, try planting a few seed like tomatoes and peppers out in the garden where there are to grow. Put a calcium pill under the tomato (just a few for experimentations), and banana peelings under the pepper plants. A plant grown from seed in the spot it is to grow will most times preform better for you than anything transplanted into the garden. There may be a file called: Planting in Tires-seems like Rachel put my last post about it in the files. If not, once I am a bit more rested than I am today, remind me, and I will either re-write it or re-post it to the group. And, I'll post photos of how I used mine last year. This year is far different than was last years use of my tires. ******************************************************************************* Date: 2/3/2003 3:20:25 AM Eastern Standard Time From: backwaterjon@yahoo.com (jon) Last year, late in the season, I planted canteloupe in one tire cluster because no rain came. I started two canteloup seed (Hales canteloupe) in just one tire. As it grew, I put another tire on top, and added a bit more mulch(shredded leaves and then later, shredded paper). I used only 3 tires tall, but I used pig fence around the outside of the tire, and trained the vines up on that wire, and used panty-hose to support the fruit. Jon ******************************************************************************** Date: 2/4/2003 2:21:11 AM Eastern Standard Time From: (jon) Rear farm tractor tires make super planters!  I have 3 of them as well. Plus two case 580 backhoe tires. ******************************************************************************** Subj: Re: {OHG} NMI - Where do you get your tires? Re:(Planting in tires)  Date: 2/3/2003 2:18:41 PM Eastern Standard Time From: (Mike V) Go to any tire shop. These guys pay premium to services to get rid of them - they're very expensive to dispose of. Hence, they'd just about load up a trailer and bring them to you and save hundreds. I have a place that's got a mountain of tires that I'm going to claim here pretty soon. :)