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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] uses for old tires?

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  • From: DGilsen@aol.com
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] uses for old tires?
  • Date: Thu, 21 May 2009 12:29:44 EDT

have used tires for years. To grow potatoes plant three sets in the dirt
close together. plop a tire over those planted sets and wait till the
plant gets about level with the top of the tire carefully tuck straw around
all
the plants till the straw is level with the top of the tire. water well
with a manure tea and pop another tire on top of the first tire continue t
ill the tires are about four feet tall then let the plants continue to grow
till the season is over then take off the tires and harvest clean bug free
spuds no digging no cleaning just perfect potatoes.
If the spuds aren't big enough and you just can't wait, you can pry up the
second tire stick your hand in and harvest perfect new potatoes.

You see potatoes only are generated from the roots. As you cover the new
leaves they convert to rootlets and so you get lots and lots of spuds. A
great side effect is that the bugs can't smell the plant over the smell of
the
rubber... at least not very many. So, no digging to harvest, not as many
bugs and you can plant earlier in the season as the tires hold in the heat
and get the season started earlier.

I have built emergency walls around my property , quick and dirty by
putting in a sixteen inch footer with five foot lengths of rebar sticking out
on
the ground and stacking five foot of tires over the rebar till I had
reached the end of my footer. I did have to match the tires by size so the
wall
wouldn't look so lumpy. I had the cement truck come by from a near by huge
construction site and dump in all his extra cement in my wall. I didn't
have to be there and so I sweetened the deal by running a hose bi bb out the
edge of the wall, so they could wash out their cement mixer. It took me
three months before I had my wall but it was low cost and easy to build. I
always left a six pack on top of the nearest empty of tires.

There is the usual tire swings and erosion control uses to keep hill sides
from eroding. I have seen pictures of a house in new mexico built out of
tires.

Good luck on your projects.

Carol the lazy Gardner
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