raised beds Archives - gardenmyths.com

Tire Gardens for Potatoes and Tomatoes – Is it Safe?

Several gardening trends are colliding. Lots of new gardeners want to grow vegetables and raised beds are very popular. Combine that with a desire to be green and reuse material and tire gardens seem to be a good option. These are gardens made with old discarded tires.

Tires have another big advantage. They accumulate heat which potatoes and tomatoes just love, especially in colder climates.

But are these tires safe? Do they leach toxic material that will get into the food and contaminate it? There are lots of opinions on this, but very little in the way of a scientific review. Time to change that.

Tire Gardens for Potatoes and Tomatoes - Is it Safe?, photo source Lovetoknow — Tire Gardens for Potatoes and Tomatoes – Is it Safe?, photo source Lovetoknow

If you like this post, please share .......

Best Building Material for Raised Garden Beds

In a previous post I discussed the pros and cons of using raised garden beds. If you have decided to make raised garden beds there are many options for making the walls, including concrete blocks, different types of lumber, galvanized metal and even old branches.

Each option will make good walls for the bed but some of them have health or environmental concerns that you should be aware of. Price may also be a consideration.

At the end of this post I will also have a quick look at materials you might consider placing at the bottom of the bed and the soil you should use inside the bed.

raised beds made with wood — Raised beds made with wood

If you like this post, please share .......

Soil for Raised Beds – Which One is Best?

You have decided to make raised beds and now need to fill them with soil. What is the best soil for raised beds? How often does it need to be replaced? How much compost should be added? Should you mix in some garden soil? I’ll answers these and other question in this post.

Before we start, lets define the term raised beds. I discussed raised beds in Raised Beds – Pros & Cons, and defined them as having walls. I will continue to use this definition in this post.

If you like this post, please share .......

Raised Beds – Pros & Cons

Raised beds are becoming more popular, but do they make sense for the garden? What benefits do they provide? Will they grow more food than convention low beds? Does a raised bed need to have side walls? What is the best building material and soil for raised beds? In this and the following posts I will try to answer all of these questions so that you can make an informed decision about adding raised beds to your garden.

If you like this post, please share .......