Thursday, August 07, 2008

Recycled gardens

I was rooting for Stephanie's experiment, but potato plants in old tires didn't produce the crop she wanted.

Still, I admire her look-on-the-bright-side conclusion: great dirt!

9 comments:

Stephanie Appleton said...

Thanks! I appreciate your rooting for my root experiment! :)

TheNormalMiddle said...

I've read quite extensively on the subject of gardening and you should never plant ANY foodstuffs in old tires. The chemicals in the tires leach into the soil and into your food.

I know I'm a borderline food snob but the old tire trick is NOT safe for food you eat. Other flowers, etc are fine! ;)

Sandy said...

I admire any kind of gardening!

There is nothing like a fresh potato out of the ground, I must say! :)

Happy Weekend Meredith!

Meredith said...

Thanks for the warning, NormalMiddle!

Perhaps we should look into growing potatoes in bags as someone suggested!

I am so excited about my garden I could just cry : ) Tires wouldn't have worked in my suburban backyard, anyway.

Anonymous said...

I am excited about my new square foot garden. It's going to be so much easier to care for. Soon it will be time to put in the winter vegies. The beans are up and I'm waiting for the carrots to make an appearance.
Mrs. L.

Anonymous said...

See if your library has a book about square foot gardening. We have used this method for years and it works well. My husband used to make his raised beds from wood. (not pressure treated, just recycled wood palets that he had to replace every couple of years because of rot. Now he uses concret blocks. Works like a charm. No rot. After a couple years of use they looks super too. Roxie

Anonymous said...

P.S. If you look for the book, try to find the "All New Square Foot Gardening" as he has made some great improvements that make it even easier. It's by Mel Bartholomew.
Mrs. L.

The Mom said...

Hi Meredith,
My mom loves to plant in pots, tyres, etc. I put a recently taken picture on my blog at www.jhtplus12.blogspot.com showing some of her flowers.

I am not a great gardener - lol, I even kill house plants.

Henrietta

Stephanie Appleton said...

well I guess there are differing opinions out there about using tires for food. The sources I read said that tires do not leach because the chemicals are too tightly bound to one another. That is why tires do not break down and are around forever. Something to look into more and to think about.