Create innovative gardens with old tyres
Regardless of the quality of your soil, the size of your garden or how green your fingers prove to be, tyre gardens are very successful.
Creative and practical, South African musician Jason Hartman shared a great idea with African Farming on small-scale, sustainable farming with his innovative idea of planting vegetables in old tyres.
African Farming‘s article explained that anyone can grow vegetables, whether they live in town or on a farm.
“As recently as 80 years ago it would have been considered unusual not to grow your own food,” said Jason. “Nowadays, there is a predominant culture of buying food and this means that self- sustainability is lost to many people.”
Jason further explained that tyres are good containers as they retain water in the bottom rim. The black surface absorbs and holds heat, which makes it possible to grow vegetables year round, even in cold climates. Planting in tyres further means that you don’t have to worry about surface runoff and erosion.
How to create your own tyre garden
Old tyres are readily available from most tyre dealerships, if you don’t already have a couple lying around.
“It’s absolutely safe to use scrap tyres, because once the tyre has run its course on the road, all the chemicals have been leached out,” Jason explained.
Remove the top rim of the tyre before you fill it with soil.
“Once you have cut off many rims, use them to make another container by stacking them on top of each other,” he added.
Sieve the soil to take out impurities and to oxygenate the soil before you plant. Add some well-rotted compost to each tyre.
Read also: Four common recycling mistakes
“Everyone should have a compost heap in their gardens, or on their smallholdings. It gives you good soil when you need it,” advised Jason.
The best part about these tyre gardens, is that they can be placed in even the most unproductive section of the garden and still do well, as long as they’re filled with nutritious compost and receive sufficient light. Whether your soil is sandy or like clay, these beds will do well.
Planting your choice of veggies or herbs
Plant five equally spaced seedlings in a car tyre, or more if the tyre is bigger.
“The tallest seedling should go in the middle with smaller plants around it. You have to use space wisely when you plant in a tyre,” advised Jason.
Avoid monocropping because it attracts pests and diseases. Planting companion crops in one tyre is a good way to practice organic pest control.
If you place the tyres next to each other in parallel rows, you can plant into the spaces between the tyres once you have filled them with the same mix as you have in the tyres.
If you want to trellis vegetables like beans put the tyres against a wall and run some wire along the wall. You can also place tyres next to trees and let them use the trunks as supports.
Harvest time
Jason promotes seed harvesting and said there is value in keeping original seed strains to use again the next season.
Read the original article and much more on African Farming
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