Old Tires Repurposed

It is hard to believe, but since the EPA has gotten so strict on tire disposal, I have to ask folks for tires now. I cut the side walls off and just keep the outer edge for my gardening projects. They are much lighter when you need to move them from place to place.If you hit the right spot when cutting the tire, it's a snap to cut.

I am so glad I learned this trick several years ago.They are the handiest garden containers I use anymore. The roots of the plants go right into the ground and do so much better than in other types of planters.Now I only need to make a raised spot for them some day to help alleviate my back problems.

I have tried for years to get a decent strawberry set up to no avail,so I am considering trying them in my tire planters sometime. It requires more time to make and keep it right than I care to put into the project,since I can buy my strawberries next door from the Amish folks and be done with it. I usually try to preserve at least three gallons a year.Some as jams and some as whole berries. Leah Catherine can eat a pint in one sitting.Tomatoes and strawberries are her favorites. Pop's favorite is tomatoes. It's hard to can enough whole tomatoes and juice for him alone.We don't eat near as many green beans as we once did, so that helps. I can spend more time on the tomatoes.I love to grow a few different types of vegetables in my garden each year, but Pop eats so few vegetables,I need to stop worrying with all the things he doesn't eat.One        or two plants of each vegetable I do grow,will be sufficient,to satisfy my desire just to see                             

 them growing.Watching them grow and nurturing the plants is so satisfying to me. I love to work with the soil,trying anything possible to improve the growth and well being of my plants.                                                         
Since our five acres is nothing more than red clay and rock,  I have made it my life's mission to improve my yard and garden spots. My chickens are a great help in producing all the rich composting materials I need.

I have decided to put my tire planters closer to the house this year, so I can keep them watered and miracle grow applied when necessary.Do you think they're close enough.Now I can stand on the porch and water them over the railing.I still have room for a few summer flowers between the tires,too.This bed is on the back of the house so it shouldn't look so unsightly from the road. No one will ever know my little garden is there. Pop has a bigger garden just a short distance from the porch where we can sit each morning and watch it grow.Our way of doing things must change a bit as we get older and less able to do things the way we've always done.

I have spent a big portion of my day today cleaning the grass from along the edges of my flower beds.I dug up what little grass that had grown, and pitched it in to the chickens for them to scratch apart and eat the worms and fresh grass,and then they can incorporate the soil back into the compost they produce so well.After I cleared the six inch strip around the beds, I filled the strip with dense grade gravel. Then when grass does try to grow too close to the beds,it will pull much easier. When I mow, the wheel of the mower runs on the dense grade. It makes for a quicker and a much neater mowing job.No need to trim with the weed eater.A job I never liked.

Today has been one busy, but prosperous day. I used Pop's big red tractor to move some of my mulch up closer to the house,so that saved my back a bit. Normally I would have wheel barrowed it up to the yard and my back would have been shot for several days,but this way I'm still good for a few more good days of work in the yard before the really hot days of summer are here to stay.