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.
That's really helpful thanks.
Perhaps a silly question but do you need to fill the whole of the tyre with compost or just the central hole section (obviously I know some will fall into the outer bit but just wondering if that would be a waste of soil)?
I think you would have to fill the whole tyre or otherwise, with watering the compost will sink in to the outer bit and lower the level in the centre.
@Obelixx has given some good advice. I would be tempted to clear the ground and make proper beds, but I suppose if you have a wildlife problem your vegetable area may have to be fenced.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
As @Jenny_Aster says you can pack the walls of thetyres with something like straw or use a cylinder of cardboard to stop compost spilling sideways but don't worry too much as the roots will spread sideways and the extra compost won't be wasted.
Once you have harvested, it can all be tipped out on beds as a mulch or soil improver so won't be wasted at all. You do need to refresh teh compost every time you plant a new crop as, as said above, the compost will run out of nutrients and you will also avoid the build up of potential pests and diseases.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
I grew in tyres when I first moved here. I stuffed inside the walls of the tyres with crumpled newspaper and put a sheet of weed matting down to stop weeds coming up from the bottoms. Eventually my main problem was ants which built huge nests inside the tyres. I only grew one variety of veg. per stack, carrots seemed to enjoy growing in them and climbing beans. Another problem for me was keeping them moist enough as the stacks of tyres were in full sun all day, the compost became very hot. It is worth a go to tide you over until you have the garden sorted and organised. I used stacks of 3 car tyres which is enough depth for long rooted veg. unless you are going for the mile long tap roots of parsnips, carrots etc., for the longest veg. competitions. I haven't used the tyres for a number of years but was contemplating usingthem again this year. If the look of them offends your eyes you can paint them, I have seen them painted white but green could be another option.
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Perhaps a silly question but do you need to fill the whole of the tyre with compost or just the central hole section (obviously I know some will fall into the outer bit but just wondering if that would be a waste of soil)?
@Obelixx has given some good advice. I would be tempted to clear the ground and make proper beds, but I suppose if you have a wildlife problem your vegetable area may have to be fenced.
Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.
Once you have harvested, it can all be tipped out on beds as a mulch or soil improver so won't be wasted at all. You do need to refresh teh compost every time you plant a new crop as, as said above, the compost will run out of nutrients and you will also avoid the build up of potential pests and diseases.
It is worth a go to tide you over until you have the garden sorted and organised. I used stacks of 3 car tyres which is enough depth for long rooted veg. unless you are going for the mile long tap roots of parsnips, carrots etc., for the longest veg. competitions. I haven't used the tyres for a number of years but was contemplating usingthem again this year. If the look of them offends your eyes you can paint them, I have seen them painted white but green could be another option.