permaculture

[DGilsen@aol.com]

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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