Over the last few months I have been gradually clearing the compost heaps…5 in total.
The ground under the heaps is in lovely condition, as you can imagine, so I decided to use this area to plant potatoes into tyres.
The chitted potatoes are pushed deep into the earth and the tyre place on top, then gradually filled with compost, from, you guessed right, the nearby heap.
It’s a bit like growing potatoes in the heap, but they’re much easier to find!
There’s quite a few chitted potatoes left, so I am doing the same thing in whatever spaces I can find!
Last year, many of my neighbours lost potatoes to the blight, but mine came through just fine.
I think this may be due to planting the potaoes irregularly…here and there, with no uniform rows, so blight does not get the chance to spread!
Crops in the tunnel are coming along well, with all the sunshine!
The stone edges hold the heat of the sun and release it at night…the perfect passive solar collectors.
As I walk in the gardens, there is the most tremendous hum of bees and insects…going in a mad frenzy around all the Ribes blossom!
As you can see from the pics, the weather today is marvellous! The temperature is 21c…!
Just a small section of the Ribes…this grow like a weed here and is a stunning bush, windbreak, source of kindling for the stove and, of course, restaurant for the bees!
Interesting to read that you didn’t suffer from blight last year and your “irregular” planting.
I am fascinated with the tire planter idea, yet I do wonder if there would be any leaching from the tires to the crop?…or am I just a worrier? Cuz, I ‘d really like to try this. I may also plant my carrots this way..as we have a very clay based soil and they can be tough lil buggers to pull out. Your garden looks lush…lush-y , lusciousness.
Jess
I have lined the tyres with straw and they have been weathered out for many years. I have used tyres for many years, always lined them and never encountered any problems. It is easy to line them with wool too, emptying them at the end of the year onto the compost heap. They are an idea, but easy to adapt…think containers for free!
Colx