Saw me a big front end loader tire (probably stand near 5' tall). May be more back there. Anything in them like the cresote crossties they tell you not to garden in? Take a good bit of dirt so I need to start now. Wouldn't take much chicken wire to cover it. Wouldn't be the only one but two's better than one if one fails.
Garden in a tire.
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Don't know of anything in the them that would be a problem. Never knew you weren't suppose to use cresote crossties either. I know lots of people who have used them to make raised beds for tomato plants. My granddaddy had a bed built up about 3ft high with crossties on the sides and ends, raised maters in it for as long as I can remember.
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Dont put railroad cross ties or treated lumber in your garden...the chemicals will leach out over time...will it hurt you?....probably not...
I've grown taters in a whiskey barrel before...that was kinda fun...I'm fortunate to have a little area in the back yard 40x30 that still gets a decent amount of sun..
The deer eat up pretty much everything I plant at "the range"
I've grown taters in a whiskey barrel before...that was kinda fun...I'm fortunate to have a little area in the back yard 40x30 that still gets a decent amount of sun..
The deer eat up pretty much everything I plant at "the range"
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Used railroad ties on a Blueberry bush raised bed years ago, make buckets of blueberries every year. I also use the big black mineral tubs that the cattle ranchers throw away after the cows empty them. They are great containers to raise all kinds of things.
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Really old crossties or other creosote-treated timber are OK to use: 1) they've already leached out just about all the creosote they're going to leach out in their life, and 2) creosote is entirely organic, so whatever tiny bit of creosote they MIGHT leach out will biodegrade into the soil.
The main trouble with using newer creosote-treated timber is not so much the leachation of creosote into the soil, but the fumes that it will give off killing the tender vegetation as it comes up. I laid out a 10'x10' tomato bed for my mother with 4 - 6x6x10' that I had at the plant that were about 3 years old at the time. Even at 3 years old they were still giving off enough fumes to kill the young tomato plants. You could barely smell the creosote, but it was still enough to kill the young plants.
I run a creosote treating plant, btw.
I wouldn't use CCA or ACQ treated stuff under any circumstances. They're both waterborne preservatives (dry chemicals dissolved in water) and eventhough it's claimed that the fixation that occurs between the sugars in the wood and the treating chemicals renders the chemicals insoluble in water after the treating process is fully completed, I know enough about the variability of wood to not fully trust that particular assertion. I think at least to some small degree that once soluble in water means always soluble in water.
The main trouble with using newer creosote-treated timber is not so much the leachation of creosote into the soil, but the fumes that it will give off killing the tender vegetation as it comes up. I laid out a 10'x10' tomato bed for my mother with 4 - 6x6x10' that I had at the plant that were about 3 years old at the time. Even at 3 years old they were still giving off enough fumes to kill the young tomato plants. You could barely smell the creosote, but it was still enough to kill the young plants.
I run a creosote treating plant, btw.
I wouldn't use CCA or ACQ treated stuff under any circumstances. They're both waterborne preservatives (dry chemicals dissolved in water) and eventhough it's claimed that the fixation that occurs between the sugars in the wood and the treating chemicals renders the chemicals insoluble in water after the treating process is fully completed, I know enough about the variability of wood to not fully trust that particular assertion. I think at least to some small degree that once soluble in water means always soluble in water.
My grandparents grew strawberries and potatoes in a stack of tires.
Poataoes-Stack several tires together, fill with soil, plant potatoes. When it comes time to harvest, knock over the stack.
Strawberries- stack tires, fill with soil, make sure soil goes all the way to the outside. Use a holesaw and cut 1" holes around the tires about a foot apart. Alternate holes so they don't line up with the holes above or below them. Plant your strawberries in the holes and in the top of the stack. Looks like a giant chia-pet. Steel belted tires don't work too well for this.
Poataoes-Stack several tires together, fill with soil, plant potatoes. When it comes time to harvest, knock over the stack.
Strawberries- stack tires, fill with soil, make sure soil goes all the way to the outside. Use a holesaw and cut 1" holes around the tires about a foot apart. Alternate holes so they don't line up with the holes above or below them. Plant your strawberries in the holes and in the top of the stack. Looks like a giant chia-pet. Steel belted tires don't work too well for this.
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