Simple Raised Garden

by PeterS563 in Outside > Backyard

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Simple Raised Garden

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This is a simple project. Most of what I explain will be to save money and make it easier to maintain your garden.
I use these mostly for tomato and pepper plants. Any size tire will work, but have found some tomato cages won't fit 14 inch rim size. Smaller car tires with smaller side walls will take less soil than bigger truck tires. You can get tires free from junk yards and the next time you buy tires, keep your old tires and save the disposal fee.

Supplies

Used car tires
Soil
Compost or fertilizer
Shovel

Arranging and Filling

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I arranged the tires in rows, spaced 28 inches between tires. This gives me just enough room to get my push mower through. You may need to go wider (measure your mower) or could go narrower if you plan on using a string trimmer, but don't recommend less than 24 inches, especially for tomatoes. I put three feet of space between rows. You will want to lay out all the tires before filling and unless you find all the same tires, you will need to adjust some of the spacing if you want the rows to match.
For soil I bought bags of black dirt and bags of compost fertilizer and mixed 50/50. I had some dirt from my old garden that I used to fill the outside (inside of the tire itself) and put the black soil mixture in the center, this saved me some money. You will need to fill in layers if you do it this way starting with the outside (see pictures). You can mix the dirt in a tub or wheel barrow or add small amounts of each into tire and mix that way. Fill to the tire bead. May need to add more dirt after a few years. All that's left to do is planting.