Ultimate Upcycle - those Tired Tires!

I know that potato blogs are probably getting old but I do have to let you in on a little secret about them – they grow really, really well in old tires!  We had 10 tires from a different project that never made it into the completion line up that I needed to use or get rid of since they were really in a big ugly pile on the farm so – taking a page from the pallet potato bin and the way the spuds can be buried after they come up I decided to plant potatoes in the tires and see what happened.

I planted three potatoes in each tire and covered them good with soil.  Below you can see the spuds peeking up from the soil just barely!

 

I initially planted them in the one tire with the other tire setting to the side ready to go on top and be filled with dirt. (see below)  I let the spuds get about 4-6 inches tall and then placed the next tire on top and filled it with dirt

Here is the next tire on top waiting to be filled. It was a little scary putting so much dirt on top – I wondered if I was crazy to try this.

 

 

 Here is the tire full of dirt – you can see in between the tires a little spud leaf that I didn’t quite get tucked in far enough peeking out.  I have a total of 4 sets of two tires high with different types planted in. Some Yukon Golds, some purple peanut and some gold finger. Next year I will staple some sand paper around the bottoms of the tires, as this year I had a slug problem and they crawled right up the outside of the tires to get my plants. Potatoes must be a favorite for them.  

 

Above you can see how the slugs have decimated the potato plant - I decided to harvest this one as it was in such bad shape that I didnt want the spuds to rot because of lack of nutrients.  Its definitely not getting ay from this plant!

 

I dont often have slugs - usually the Canada Geese land in the yard in the spring and eat them all up while resting for the next leg of the journey.  This year because the snow stayed for so long and we had such a late snow - the geese passed us by and didn't eat the slugs - hence the slug problem - I pray for geese next spring!

 

 

Here are the other three tire bins -- the slugs didnt get to them as badly so they still look great!

 

Here is a set of potatoes peeking through as I dig through the dirt after removing the first tire.

Here is a great patch of supds from the tire bin.  I think if I had been able to leave them a little longer they would have had even more!

 

This beautiful trug was made by Doug Carney at Snowfire Gardens (www.snowfiregardens.com or www.snowfiregardens.net).  It works perfectly for harvesting and even for rinsing veggies and produce in the sink or with a hose!  Its even better that it is sporting spuds!

 

We did notice a little cracking on some of the spuds and we think the tires may have overheated with the hot sun we had this summer (hotter than average).  It was only two potatoes and they were ones that were in the inside part of the tire (like where the tube would go).  I dont think it will be a problem per se.  I am doing some research into whether tires leach chemicals into the soil - one of the kids raised that question the other day.  Ill keep you posted on that when I find out!

 

Happy Harvesting!