Growing vegetables in a tyre

Agriculture is the next big thing as all creatures need food, and with the estimated nine billion people to be fed by 2050 all hands must be on deck to produce more food.

The need to produce more food has opened up new frontiers of farming as many people are using unconventional means to grow food; many have turned to urban agriculture for profit and sustainability.

The use of bottles, plastics, sacs and barrels have been explored to plant vegetables but a very unconventional method still untapped is the use of tyres to start a vegetable farm. The use of old tyres to start a vegetable farm is though, very unconventional but convenient and ecofriendly.

Old tyres can be recycled and used in agricultural projects such as raising snails, making mattress for cows to increase milk yield, starting a fish farm, planting vegetables, roses and lots more. The use of tyres for agricultural projects is a good alternative to the current method of disposing tyres which is burning which pollutes the atmosphere with severe health implications for man.

The project you want to embark on will determine the size of tyres to use and how to arrange them or stack them up to produce the result you desire. The tyres could even be layered so that you have more than a row of vegetables or sectioned so you have two or three sections in the tyres to produce more with less space.

Gettting started

• Get old tyres, clean, wash, disinfect and set out to dry. The tyres can be painted to add a color code to your farm and also make it attractive.
• Prepare the site for the tyres this must be clean, free of weeds and in an easy accessible place. The tyre is now further prepared by using a black plastic (polythene) to cover the base and to prevent any weed. Then place a wire mesh on top to keep steady and create a partition between the surface and tyre base.
• Get the soil which must be treated to ensure it is free of pests.
• Get your compost and mix with soil to prepare for planting

Photo Credit: Balcony Garden Web