cob and tyre walls

[kiddrahcir]

hello there i posted in the hello new members section last week. and was pointed in this direction.

what i'm after doing is building some small walls in my garden to seperate sections and also make it look nice.

now i fancied using old tyres but obviously there not that attractive, so i hit upon the idea of covering them in cob. with the posibility of leaving some gaps to grow plants out of.

just wondering if this is possible and if anybody has any advice, etc
any way cheers.

ps does anyone know if theres any good places to get recycled timber in the teesside area.[/i]

[Thurston Garden]

No idea about covering the tyres but I have read in several that ramming them full of earth is particularly tiring!

As for where to get lots, any wee garage will be glad to let you take them off their hands - they are difficult to dispose of and up here (East Lothian) garages are charged £3 a go to dump them...

[wyverne]

i'm using tyres for low walls, and just white-washing them to reduce their heat-absorption in summer. they lend themselves very well to having trailing things planted in them (pumpkins do splendidly, periwinkle - vinca major - is attractive year round, ivy, livingstonias etc), and with the right choise of plantings they can look quite stunning without further treatment. planting the odd one with upright bushy plants adds interest.

only thing is the tops get searingly hot in the oz summer heat and anyway, they aren't attractive. so far i'm just trying to keep them covered with mulch or mud, but watering washes this away and i'm about to start experimenting with thin concrete and pebble 'donuts' to fit over that part. single tyres make good containers for vegetables too. i had a lovely continous crop of loose leaf lettuce from one till the kangaroo got in and ate them. (no she's not a pet, just tamed herself!) i kept that one cool with a drapery of hessian but it wasn't pretty.

so like you, having lots of good adobe soil, i plan to try what you have in mind, but i thought that some old rusty wire-netting i've got could be fastened around them to help retain the mud as you build it. i've done a wall in this way and it was good. but the adobe wouldn't stand up to too much watering and i'm also still considering ferrocement instead.

i think it's worth a try. i'm filling most of them with old rubbish that can't be recycled or composted. they'll be interesting time-capsules sometime in the future.

wyverne

[frozenthunderbolt]

Not to be a total killjoy, but there are some who say that planting anything you will put in your mouth, inside a tire is a bad idea.

This is due to the cadmium, that is used in making the rubber - cadmium is a heavy metal and is NOT OUR FRIEND if it gets inside our bodies: just like mercury or lead.

Unfortunately, I cannot point to anyparticular study that has verified this, but cadmium IS used in all but one brand of tyre (I forget which ) and common sense says to me "Why risk it?"

That said using tyres to form retaining walls and similar must be fine if well away from anything you are going to eat
. . . Just dont grow your taties in them

[contadino]

What about putting a layer of plastic sheeting between the tyre and the soil? Wouldn't that stop these chemicals from leaching into the food? Some heavy duty plastic sheeting like polytunnel plastic? I don't think that cob would be a resilient enough material to act as a barrier.

[wyverne]

thanks for the warning, jed! i'll stick to ornamentals henceforth!
wyverne

[frozenthunderbolt]

thanks for the warning, jed! i'll stick to ornamentals henceforth!
wyverne

No worries! healthiy ishers are active ishers!

[Sky]

What a good idea, think I'll start collecting tyres to make a few walls.

[possum]

sky another good use for them at your place is for when you are planting shrubs and trees, pile three up around the newly planted tree, it will protect it against frost, the wonderful canterbury winds and also rabbits.
Just remember to remove them whilst you still can after the tree grows.