Rethinking tyre potatoesReader submitted

I saw your article in a recent issue about growing potatoes in old tyres. Whilst this does still seem to be popular amongst certain 'permaculture' practitioners who still cling to a rose-tinted relationship with the 1970s, I would strongly recommend that old, decaying tyres which may leach harmful chemicals into the soil have no place in a food garden.

I've seen some turned into planters for flowers; bit of a lick of paint, providing some colour in a pub car park. But for the organic gardener, old tyres are, I am afraid, a no-no.

At my local community garden we even had one person suggest recently that we purchase new tyres to do this, which might be better from the point of view of them not degrading quite as quickly, but has certain implications on the production of new ones and the environmental impact which would result from that!

Please be so kind as to rethink your 'green idea' in this instance.

Editor replies: A fair point. We looked for research on the risks that might be posed by growing in tyres, but couldn’t find anything solid. So our advice in the article was to line the tyres with sheeting if you’re concerned.