Tyred of tyres😒

Gardener:Somerset Sue

Date:12 Nov 2023

Blog Type:Vegetables

I've had a bit of a fail in the garden this year.

My "best idea" this season was to stop myself "tickling" our maincrop of Agria potatoes (which are our keepers) by planting an early crop of new potatoes to rob for spring dinners. I thought we could plant them in tyres and just tickle a dinner or two at a time.

Lesson 1: It's hard to tickle from a tyre. Generally when you tickle it's from the side of the row - there is no side accessible in a tyre so you've got to lift the top tyre to get to any babies. I think someone on this site actually may have suggested this!

Lesson 2: Tyres have a lip all around the inside which I have deduced does not drain and therefore is not great for an overall healthy plant.

Lesson 3: This harks back to last season when we tried to grow kumara in tyres and, while we got a few out of them, we didn't have a great crop - perhaps tyres were never meant to be gardens.

Overall the biggest lesson I have learned is that I need to go back to the ground - the tyres will go away to be recycled and our "tickling" new potatoes will go in the earth next year. 

Despite my disappointment we have had a few meals of new spuds out of the first tyres I have dug up.

 

Tyred of tyres😒