[Cob] cob raised beds?

[Amanda Peck]

Might hold up no worse than plain wood boards.  And they'd be repairable, or 
they could be allowed to decay into nothingness without harm to the soil, 
both pretty good ideas.  Using a lime plaster on the inside might or might 
not be good for the pH of your particular soil.

I'm using "topless tires," turned inside out if I'm feeling decorative. 
"Topless" as in one sidewall cut off.  You can do more shaping if you cut 
both off.  And you could use those as a liner--inner/outer liners? then.   
I'm terracing a steep slope with this garden, burying even big old loader 
tires well into the ground on one side.  (tips from the tire garden: you 
don't need to doctor your jigsaw blades, especially if you drill a hole to 
start the cut.  And, especially with large tires, cut a sidewall off before 
you unload them.  I had big Gumbo Mudders fly through a fence, down 30-40 
feet in elevation and into a creek hundreds of feet away.  They don't go 
anywhere near as far with one sidewall off, but they sure are a pain to 
bring back up from the creek half-filled with water)

These guys wrote the book, said, last time I looked at their site, that 
there was no reason to think that used tires put anything harmful into the 
soil, or the crops you were growing into them.  Ran into another site that 
I'm too lazy to find right now, of a farm--organic or biodynamic or 
something--which recommended carefully cutting both sidewalls off, and 
cutting across the tread (ouch!--metal cutting blade on a sawzall if they 
are steel belted radials, and don't even think about tractor-trailer tires 
with steel sidewalls)  to make long beds.

http://www.tirecrafting.com/02retiring/02retiringfarbers.htm

....................
Daveena T wrote:

I am interested in building raised beds out of something other than wood and
I was wondering if cob could be an appropriate medium.  I like the idea of
being able to build beds in interesting shapes rather than just straight
lines.  I also like the possibility of building in little sitting areas or
shrines.



Would cob beds stand up to the constant contact with soil?  Could I line
them or finish them with something if the soil would be a problem?  Would
some kind of flashing be necessary?  Any more ideas or examples of people
who have done this?



Thanks, DT in Portland, OR

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