Car Tire Potato Beds...

We found a bunch of old white wall car tires on our property from the previous owner. Most of them don't have rims, and I was thinking of using some of them for potatoes. Any thoughts on chemical leaching? etc..

Yeah, I saw that, I've already got so many of those darn car tires. They've been sitting by the garage for ages now.

I grew potatoes for three years in tires using rotted manure in the bottom one and straw in the top two -- easiest method ever. Then I started reading of the "danger" of using tires due to the chemicals in them. Now in my old age, I've decided if I'm not dead yet from all the bad stuff out there, I might as well add tires back into the edible landscape. Besides I was given two tractor tires -- these things are huge -- almost 6' across and 2' high. I've cut out the top side wall and will use them for herb gardens by the kitchen door. Will paint them white to help reflect heat and hopefully make them look a bit less tire-ish. I'm not sure I can call something round a square foot garden, but the principle is the same except I'm dividing them into 8 wedges each. A wedgie garden? I'm not growing potatoes at present, but plan on picking up 6 regular sized tires to use for potatoes this fall.

belfrybat wrote:I grew potatoes ...snip...in tires using rotted manure in the bottom one and straw in the top two -- easiest method ever.

The few times I grew spuds, that is what I did. Only it wasn't manure in the bottom (I was vegan at the time and didn't use any animal stuff) I started them where the compost had been over the winter. Put the eyes in the dirt and as they grew, instead of hilling them I piled straw, leaves and grass clipping over them (tires added as season progressed). Knocked the whole works over in late summer to harvest. Had forgotten about that. I think I got the idea from Rodale’s Organic Gardening Magazine back when it was still small and recyclable.

Deborah …..might try it this year but with a box instead of tires. (I'm not country folk anymore)

My dad did this with tires many times before and we had a ton of potatoes each year from them. I never even thought about them being bad for us.