Tires for gardening

Okay, I know it's not SFG but my scallop squash pretty much took over my sfg last year so I thought of planting it this year separate in a tire. I have a friend who planted her strawberries this way. I was wondering as to any negatives. Mainly I'm worried about chemicals leaching from the tires... are thier chemicals I should worry about? Any other solutions for monster plants?

You might line the interior with weed cloth or plastic liner for protection...but who knows if the plastic wouldn't be just as bad as the tire?

I am using tires for all my "pretty" stuff...flowers and pollinator attractors.

middlemamma wrote:You might line the interior with weed cloth or plastic liner for protection...but who knows if the plastic wouldn't be just as bad as the tire?

I am using tires for all my "pretty" stuff...flowers and pollinator attractors.

Good idea, I may do that for my companion flowers so I can use more outer squares for the herbs.
Here is what I did last year...

I have some tires that I planted in and I've had some success, but I think they heat up too much in the summer sun here in Virginia. I don't plant food in them, just flowers because I don't want to have to worry about leaching, and at some point I hope to replace them with something more aesthetically pleasing

I am glad I saw this thread. I think I have been thinking of aesthetics for so long I have to make myself realize that I can finally USE tires, cinderblock, hog panels, anything I want!!!!

Megan wrote:I am glad I saw this thread. I think I have been thinking of aesthetics for so long I have to make myself realize that I can finally USE tires, cinderblock, hog panels, anything I want!!!!

Think spraypaint

No, that would not be a good idea. I would get creative about my opinions of my HOA and then that would end badly. But thank you for the thought. :-)

middlemamma wrote:You might line the interior with weed cloth or plastic liner for protection...but who knows if the plastic wouldn't be just as bad as the tire?

I wondered about that, too, Jennie. We painted the insides of our first SFG boxes before we learned that chemicals could leach from the paint into the mix. We are taking up those boxes this year to remix that first bad batch of MM we made, so this would be a good opportunity to do something about the paint. Everything I read says if they are painted inside to line them with plastic before filling, but as you say, are there chemicals in the plastic that would be just as bad? Does it matter what type of plastic we use?

I don't worry about weed barrier on the bottom because I assume any chemicals from that will leach down and not up into the mix. But just how far would chemicals from either the paint or plastic on the sides leach into the mix? Is it enough to be a real problem with either? Because it seems to me that any leaching on the sides will also wash down and not out into the mix, but perhaps I don't understand the nature of chemical contamination. But it seems to me if it's okay for the roots to touch the plastic weed barrier on the bottom, if should be okay for them to touch it on the sides.

Can someone 'splain it, please?

Miinva, if your tires heat up too much in summer, would it help to paint them white?

middlemamma wrote:You might line the interior with weed cloth or plastic liner for protection...but who knows if the plastic wouldn't be just as bad as the tire?

You might want to look into Volatile Organic Compounds which are found in a lot of polythene and plastic products. They are the smells when you have a new carpet fitted or buy a new plastic item and it smells of plastic until you have used it a few times.

I knew about these because Julie used to make dolls from vinyl and she had to put them in the oven and the fumes coming off them were terrible so we looked into it and it's quite frightening. We got around it by baking outside but still had to wear masks. In the end she gave up because it is to much risk to your health over a prolonged time.

Saying that, polythene and general household items would not give off anywhere near the same amount.