Raised Garden Beds

Reusing items found on property for garden beds

We live on acreage and although we have been here a long time there are certain items that we inherited when we bought the property that I considered rubbish but have since found a use for.

It seems like every property has a stash of old tyres and ours was no exception. Car tyres and large 4WD tyres we had about 30 of them and they got moved from one area to another as they are too expensive to take to the tip and we had no use for them.

A decade later we were still trying to hide them until one day I decided to find a use for these annoying eye sores.

Using a reticulating saw I cut the top and bottom out of the tyre, just leaving the outside edge (see photo) this stops the water sitting on the bottom rim. I place cardboard underneath to stop weeds and grass from growing up through the dirt. Then I fill it with compost and soil and plant in them.

Potatoes are great grown this way, as I simply add another tyre as they grow and keep topping up the soil. Usually, 3 tyres give an excellent yield.

I also grow carrots,  ginger, garlic, and tumeric the same way, then when they are ready to harvest I remove the tyres and collect the veggies. Then I either spread the used soil around or I shovel it up, strain it through a sieve, add some organic matter and worm juice and use it again for something else.

After the floods earlier this year, I placed my tyres down either side of the driveway to control excess water flow, so now they also work like sandbags.

I look at tyres in a new way now and they have been helpful. Although I still have at leat 15 still looking for a use.