Used Tired Raised Garden & Tree Ring

Step 3 Cutting Away the Sidewall with Jigsaw

Now all you have to do is cut around the tire! We didn't use a special blade. The general purpose blade works just fine.

You should also note that it isn't necessary to remove both sidewalls. We've tried this both ways and have found that the tire is much more stable if you only remove one side. Also, you have a trough that allows a little water to pool into a reservoir which helps with fluid retention and watering. Another benefit is the way this second sidewall will hold the landscape fabric and soil without allowing it to run out the bottom.

Comments

[origamifox]

You don't say anything about what to do with the sidewall once you have removed it.  I have found that you can invert the sidewall and place inside the tire, over your landscape cloth.  This will help hold the landscape cloth in place inside the tire. 

[auntwrenny]

If you look at step #5, we actually split the sidewall and use it as a tree ring. The reason we didn't use it in the bottom of the tire was because it will block root growth more harshly than landscape fabric.

However, we have lately been starting up our gardens again and switched from using landscape fabric to using 2 layers of newspaper. The roots can get through the newspaper but it does block the weeds very well.

Also, I just planted potatoes in 3 tires on Good Friday. I'm anxious to see if this works as well as I hope but the plan is to:
1. Cut off both sidewalls.
2. Put the potatoes 3"-4" into the ground, just inside the tire ring.
3. After I have about 6" of green growth from the potatoes I'm going to fill the tires with straw. The potatoes should have 8"-10" of straw on top of them and I'm hoping that the tire ring will hold the straw in place better and keep me from needing such a high mound.

[xnotxp]

You can make your own special blade: a knife edge blade. Take an old saw blade and grind a knife edge on the back edge and then use it with the knife facing forward. This cuts nicely and doesn't catch (but will get dull) when you hit the wires. It is better around the wire belts, cuts smooth edges in the rubber, and eliminates most of the saw dust but it's not necessarily easier. Use a hard steel blade instead of bimetal which is softer on the back edge.