New grower - advice greatly appreciated

naviehtelbanetlO96fgYK · April 2023

Hi all,

I've recently moved semi-rural after over 50 years in the inner-city with no garden.

I've now got a decent patch of land, quite heavily populated with rabbits, foxes, pheasants and squirrels, and have started preparing to grow veg in tyre planters. The soil around the place I intend to grow has lots of nettles and weeds.

My plan is to fill the tyres with organic compost and plant various seeds inside them over Easter without losing most of it to insects, birds and squirrels etc.

If anyone could answer any of the following queries I'd be highly grateful.

Should I put bricks and a plastic sheet at the base of the tyres to prevent burrowers and minimise weeds (and drill holes in the tyres for drainage?)

How high should I stack the tyres (I can get as many as needed)?

Shall I fill the tyres only with the organic compost or could I use regular soil at the bottom?

Do I need to feed the veg with anything apart from water if using organic compost?

Can I plant multiple species inside one tyre or keep each tyre exclusive?

Should I plant more seeds than I expect to yield in plants (pour the whole pack in?)

Should I use weed killer or just pick out any weeds by hand?

Should I place a fine mesh over the top to protect against insects followed by some chicken wire to prevent animals getting in?

I appreciate that's a lot of questions but anything at all you can advise on would be brilliant.

Cheers.

JennyJ · April 2023

I've never grown anything in tyres but:

7. Don't pour the whole pack of seeds in (unless it's something like cress where the crop is just seedlings). Any seeds that are big enough to handle can be set individually at the correct spacing (peas for example, how small you can go depends on your dexterity). Anything with tiny seed will need to be thinned (spacing should be given on the seed packet) so sow as thinly as you can. Salad leaves for cut-and-come-again don't need thinning if you sow thinly.

8. Don't use weedkiller - it will kill your veg plants as well. In containers you should only get weeds from seed that settles there not pernicious things from roots left behind that you can get in the ground, so hand-weeding will deal with them.

6. Feeding depends on the plant.

3. Depth also depends on what you're growing. Potatoes, long-rooted carrots, parsnips need more depth than salad leaves, for example.

alfharris8 · April 2023

If you have a lot of wildlife around make sure you have your produce well defended from all angles.

floralies · April 2023

Google Bob Flowerdew, he used to grow veggies in tyres.

Jenny_Aster · April 2023

Yes you can grow different types of plants with each other, the term is 'companion planting' to help you with a google search. For example, growing onions with carrots works well, the onions have shallow roots while carrots are deep rooted so they don't encroach on each other, the pungent onion smell is believed to deter carrot fly. Marigolds are good for keeping greenfly in check, grow them especially with tomatoes.

Enjoy your new venture.

naviehtelbanetlO96fgYK · April 2023

Thanks everyone, very helpful of you all!

nick615 · April 2023

I've had two huge tractor tyres for 10+ years with only very poor success. Initially, I put heavy duty cardboard down first to stifle weed growth, but the evidence of invasive roots in the soil would suggest the cardboard has disappeared. Keeping any measure of moisture in the soil has always been difficult, a la raised bed enthusiasts who seem to have similar problems by their posts. I think you'll find only plastic underneath will deter weeds effectively - but that will hold the natural moisture back better. It seems the more you solve one, the more you create another. Good luck but.............

Obelixx · April 2023

I have grown potatoes successfully in tyres. Put a couple of layers of cardboard down first then wet it. Layer one tyre on top and fill with good quality compost such as loam-based John Innes no 3 and plant the chitted potatoes. Don't crowd them. Just 2 or 3 spude per normal car tyre.

As the foliage grows, add another tyre and pour in more compost till just the top few leaves are still showing. This echoes the usual earthing up when planted in beds. You can go to 3 or 4 tyres. Keep them watered and add some pelleted chicken manure to the last layer as commercial composts only have enough fertiliser for 80 to 90 days.

Carrots do well in containers and if you stack them to 60+cms high you'll avoid pests like carrot fly as they can't fly higher.

Rather than just tyres I would advise you to use them as a short term measure and concentrate on marking out square or rectangular beds 120cm wide and as long as you like and cover the soil with cardboard to cut the light from weeds. You can then pile on garden compost and/or well-rotted horse manure and plant things like courgette and squash, sweetcorn in grids, not rows, beans, peas etc.

Dovefromabove · April 2023

I understand Bob Flowerdew stopped growing veg in tyres due to concerns about possible petro-chemical contamination … just thought I’d mention it.

😊

floralies · April 2023

Ah @Dovefromabove I didn't know that, I wouldn't have suggested it had i known. Thanks for the info.

Obelixx · April 2023

Polution is a worry but the main problem for me is that they're ugly. Good as a temporary stop gap for annual herbs and veg whilst getting proper veg beds sorted out.

New grower - advice greatly appreciated

Posts