USED TIRES REBORN
Joanna James recycles tires to solve problems with gophers, composting and deep planting in poor ground; Carl Bettrens avoids hard water and soap stains on plastic tubs by applying boat wax when the tub is new; Betty Redden rubs apple cider vinegar into her hands to prevent burns from cutting red peppers; Chloe Chitwood adds calcium to her garden for improved tomato and cucumber crops; Ruth Jacobs keeps a book of matches under the hollow base of every kerosene lamp in her home.
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ERRY HOWARD/POSITIVE IMAGES
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250,000,000 used tires are added every year to
"disposal" sites like this one.
Junked Tires Solve Three Problems
Gophers: After watching both young and mature plants
disappear overnight from my vegetable garden, gobbled from
the bottom up by gophers, the following year I decided to
foil those critters by planting in raised beds out of their
reach. Since I didn't have the ability or funds to build
those beds, I used tires instead, stacked two high. I
learned that you have to pack them clear to the rims inside
with soil to keep other critters out, like wasps. I also
found that the heat provided by the tires boosted my warm
weather crops here in the mountains where the summers can
be cool and short. To be on the safe side, I inserted a
tall garden pot in one of the tires to provide additional
protection for the parsley with its long, tempting taproot.
Voila! No more plants lost to gophers.
Compost: Burying my kitchen garbage in the compost had two
disadvantages: 1) the wild animals dug it up and ate it,
and 2) in the winter, the heap was frozen and I couldn't
bury the garbage. Now I use a two-bin system, which is
simply two stacks of tires, three tires each.
The garbage is dumped into one stack and I cover it with a
shovelful or two of dirt (mixed with sand and ashes in the
winter). I chop the garbage and dirt with the end of the
shovel. When one stack is full, I start on the other one.
By the time that one is full, the other is composted. If
you have more garbage than I do, then you'll need more
stacks. They work perfectly. The heat provided by the black
rubber speeds up the composting process, and they are
easily disassembled when it's time to empty them.
Deep Planting on Poor Ground: In some places where I wanted
to plant shrubs, the ground was like concrete with
practically no topsoil. I used both car and truck tires to
provide raised beds for them. These contained beds also
made it easier to keep the shrubs watered. In time the
water and nutrients worked on the soil beneath the ground
level so that the roots could expand. Well okay, despite
their advantages, tires are not attractive, so I surrounded
them with stones, piling them up until they covered all the
rubber. The shrubs are happy and so am I.
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