Monday, December 29, 2014

Garden photos for BWH Magazine

In the midst of a bitterly cold snap that just descended on us, I'm posting these photos of our garden as it appeared in August and early September. The reason is because I just submitted an article on tire gardening to Backwoods Home Magazine, and the editor needs a couple extra photos for purposes of illustration.

So without further ado, I give you a bit of summer in the middle of winter.

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18 comments:

  1. Have you considered making your NaNoWriMo efforts available as an e book? I for one would be very interested in seeing your efforts.

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  2. A totally awesome and well thought out garden.
    Just wonderful! :-)

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  3. I'm sure it's been asked before but- where/ how did you aquire these tires? This is brilliant!

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    1. This is farming country, so we went to some tractor tire dealers in the area and they brought over loads of old tires whenever they had some available. That's where we got the bulk of the tires. We're in the market for dozens more, too.

      - Patrice

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  4. What a timely post. I was just telling a friend that I was really missing my gardens. We, too, are having a cold snap with snow clearly visible in the lower hills. I think I'll go find some seed catalogs to browse next. Thanks! SJ in Vancouver BC

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  5. I live in southern Az, do you think that the black tires would cook the roots of anything I planted in them?

    MG from AZ

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    1. Possibly. In warmer climates, some people paint the outsides white to reflect sunlight. Alternately, my understanding is the gardening season in Arizona is during winter....? Either way, you don't need to add heat to the soil, so painting the outsides of the tires would probably be your best bet.

      - Patrice

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    2. We have a longer growing season, and can do things like oats or winter wheat, but it generally freezes at night, so not many plants survive. I can grow a decent row garden, however, I am hoping for a way to cut down on weeds...

      MG from AZ

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  6. Patrice, I've been wanting to this on some of my hilly areas, with smaller truck tires but I'm concerned about the tires leaching. I've spent months reading & researching all over the net and it seems to be a 50/50 split as to whether it's safe for food items. How did you decide to do this and have you done anything special to the tires (I read your tire cutting post long ago)? Thanks, Jan in NWGA

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    1. I'm wholly confident tires are safe for gardening. Leaching doesn't happen unless the tires are shredded. Please see this post:

      http://www.rural-revolution.com/2014/01/in-defense-of-our-tire-garden.html

      - Patrice

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    2. Jan;
      Please look into straw bale gardening. I have done this and find it a very positive alternative. Takes less water; no bending over; no weeds. No toxic questions. First year I did go "by the book" but have made changes/upgrades. There are no unsightly tires; no cutting etc. Worth a look.! Could send photos if interested.
      Robin
      http://www.sharpsaddles.com

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    3. What about the tires that you've cut in half? Isn't that like the same thing? Shredding and cutting are both cutting it right?

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    4. One clean cut vs. shredding a tire into thousands of tiny pieces.... no, not the same thing. The key factor is degradation. Cutting a tire in half does not cause it to degrade. Shredding it does.

      - Patrice

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  7. I was needed to ask some questions concerning a milk cow, and thought that the most recent post should be the best. Our Jersey heifer had a calf two weeks ago. After 5 days I began to milk her. I am only receiving 1/2 gallon in the morning milking. I pen the calf away from her at night, let him be with her all day and don't milk her at night. I milk her out which isn't much and then let the calf out. I take two teats and he gets two. I get a lot more milk that is richer in cream. She seems to hold the richest milk for him. I have to shew him over to his two teats to milk her. I had dreams of making all kinds of dairy products, but we are not even keeping up with our families milk consumption. Remember she is a heifer with only a two week calf. Is all this normal ? Is there anything different I could do. Also, after brushing her and washing her udder, she has only let down her milk for me once. Every other morning I have to turn the calf out, let him suck to get the milk down, then put him back in the pen, rewash the udder, and then milk. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks for all your help.

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  8. I'm with Jan on the safety of the tire issue. Bottom line, each of us has to do what we feel is best for our families. If you're comfortable with it, then go for it. Since there seems to be a 50/50 split, for my family, we're erring on the side of caution and going with untreated wood instead of tires. Why go to all the trouble of organic gardening if I'm just going to plant in something that is potentially toxic? Not judging you, Patrice. Just simply stating the route that we've decided to go. Your garden looks great, BTW!

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  9. I live in Lewiston. Why did you go with raised beds? Is your soil too poor to grow a garden?

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