Some garden pics

I can't remember if I mentioned it last post, but whatever. I'm going to be doing most of my gardening in old rubber tires, from here on. That is to say, I'm going to experiment with several different methods, and whatever works the best will be my primary method. I gotta say, this gardening in old tires concept has already got me hooked though!
1. Tires are practically indestructable. Our great-great-great-great grandchildren are going to be swimming in them if we don't find a better disposal method.
2. You can get them for free. Just ask (be prepared to load them yourself)
3. They come in many sizes. From wheelbarrow tires to the big tractor sized ones, with benefits to each size.
4. They allow you to heat the soil faster. Black rubber absorbs heat, and could allow you to start your plants a bit sooner, especially if you put some kind of plastic or something over it. I plan to stack two or three to get a earlier start on some seedlings!
5. They exclude weeds and pests. You can place a barrier below them if you want, but you won't get the beneficial worms if you do that.
6. They are MUCH less work to fill and plant, than digging down below the compacted prairie soil, which has to be well worked to get a good bed. No rototilling for these suckers!
7. The side of the tire makes a good place to sit while you weed, seed, or whatever.
8. You will get fewer pests stealing your garden, and fewer animals will rampage through your delicate plants. Especially with the larger tires, something actually would have to climb up on top to wreak havoc, and it's less likely, especially with larger "animals" (children).
9. You can paint them, but I like them black myself.
10. Did I mention free?

The above picture is a few "normal" sized tires awaiting some dirt, but I really don't know what I want to put in them. The place I got these from did not have many normal tires, but for the average gardener, these are the easiest to work with. The large ones, even the semi-truck ones, are really heavy.

Here are four of the semi-truck tires, partially filled with topsoil. I scraped this soil off last year to put the mobile on, and it's composted down to some excellent stuff! These are heavy, and will not fit in a car. You should have a buddy if you're getting these, to help get them in the truck.

We have two of these monsters on our property. I dragged this one about 500 meters with the truck. My daughter thought that was just awesome, and talked about it all day! This one took a lot of dirt to even partially fill, and I planted carrots in it. I mulched the top to conserve precious moisture.

This is a non-tired spot where I'm trying to grow potatoes in straw. I've got a bunch of these, and they've already done ok despite the very late frosts we had. The straw protects them from cold, and holds in moisture. I bought a small bag of seed potatoes on sale, and only used half of them! I tried to use more, but I don't have more tilled spots, and besides, we don't use enough potatoes to make it worth planting more. I doubt we can eat what I've seeded now. Perhaps I can sell some!

Any how, I've got the next three days off work, and I'm grateful for it. I just worked 7 days straight, and I'm tired to say the least.

Another small project that I attempted (and needs more work, or better design or something) is a rainwater collection system, using black drainpipe. Unfortunately, the pipe, which is flexible, just allows the water to pool in one spot, which eventually spills all over the ground. I need more supports for the pipe, seal up some joints that leak, and add the first-flush diverter. Once all of that is in place, I should be able to collect at least some of the rainwater from the gutters. Water is expensive for us, and has to be hauled from town in my truck. It costs about $11 to haul 350 gal, including the truck gas (which comprises half of the total cost). I might work on this tommorow, if it's not too hot out. I'm a bit of a pansy in the heat, but I can work like a dog in the cold, even in -20 Celcius, which is about -10 F (I think).

Some of my trees are showing good growth, which I'm thankful for. I need some fruit trees though!