Someone else will be along who knows better about the other things but I wanted to pitch in about the tire.

I used lots and lots of tires, both car and tractor sizes, when we lived in OK. They worked wonderfully but they get HOT! If you leave them black, they'll bake the soil (and whatever is planted within them). Some plants are okay with that but I didn't have luck with strawberries in them. I was going to pain a few white for strawberries but just never got around to it -- you might try that.

Also, being elevated along with the OK heat & sun, it can dry out very, very quickly. If you have clay, it becomes concrete. With that in mind, try to fill it with some decent soil and be prepared to water during the dry times. (I have an aversion to watering things so mine just died off. LOL)

Diane

Concerning planting lettuce and spinach in the bed with lilies and hostas, I would not dig into either of these plants. Luckily both lettuce and spinach are small seeds so you can scatter them on the surface and lightly cover with soilless mix--or even peat moss. You can plant both by March 1st here in z 6b. I don't know how well they will do in such a spot but neither hostas or lilies emerge early so you might squeeze in a crop. I would fertilize the bed some with a good organic fertilizer. Liquid compost or well rotted manure will get both those leafy greens off to a good start.

1) You can build raised beds out of the material of your choice. I prefer plain, untreated, chemical-free wood boards. They will eventually rot, but mine last 5-10 years depending on how wet/dry our weather is, and we just replace them as needed. Folks who have significantly higher rainfall most years than we have here in southcentral OK might find untreated lumber rots too quickly. Cedar is a great choice, but an expensive one.

When building raised beds above grade level, we normally break up the soil with hand tools or a rototiller, remove all the plant roots and stolons we find, and then dig in/till in 6 to 8" of organic matter (compost, composted animal manure, chopped/shredded leaves, pea moss, pine bark fines, etc.) into the soil. Just by working that amount of organic matter into the soil, you've partially raised the soil above grade level so that what you have is a raised 'mound'. You build your edging around it using stone, untreated lumber, etc. and then if your raised 'mound' of soil doesn't full fill the area within the edging, you can purchase, in bulk from soil supplier or in bags at the store, garden soil to finish filling the raised beds. Someone who lives in your part of the state might be able to tell you where to find bulk soil mixes---I'm at the other end of the state and the places I'd use are too far away from you.

2) I'd never use chemically-treated wood because of the chemicals used, and along that same line of thinking, I'd never use tires for the same reason. Do you know what is found in tires? Among many other things, lead, benzene, tuolene and arsenic. I've linked a very long article below. If you read far enough down to the section entitled "It's In The Air, It's In The Water", you'll find the 'old tire' connection and can read about some research that shows what compounds in old tires can do as they break down and are released into the air or ground water. While the article is specifically referring to the rubber pellets (made from old tires) used as turf fill in artificial turf installations, the same chemical compounds exist in all rubber tires and the risk of these compounds being released into the soil over time bothers me. It is a personal choice each gardener must make for himself or herself, of course, but some compounds found in tires and recyled rubber pellets made from tires are linked to breast and lung cancer, and I've survived cancer once and hearing the words "you have cancer" are an experience I prefer not to repeat. Thus, I have no desire to introduce something with those potentially-carcinogenic chemicals into an area where we live and where we grow food that we eat. As a gardener who strives to grow as organically and as naturally as possible, I just don't like introducing chemical compounds into our soil, and I feel like using tire planters would do that.

3) I've never tried growing lettuce as a cool-season crop in an ornamental bed, but I suspect it might not work out very well. I think that the lettuce plants likely will sprout and grow but believe they may have a hard time competing with the large, established root systems of the hostas and lilies. There is a chance the hostas will begin to emerge while the lettuce is not yet full-sized and likely will outcompete the lettuce. If you have really wide spacing with lots of open space between your hostas and lilies, you might have better success, but if they're densely planted, you might not. You won't know until you try it though. You also probably would have better success with a leafy lettuce you can harvest young and often using the cut-and-come-again method than with a head lettuce that takes longer to mature.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Toxicity of Old Tires Used in Artificial Turf Fields

Thanks for bringing that up, Dawn. That's a very important factor to consider and one I should have remembered to mention.

For us, we had no money or extra building parts laying around at the time so we worked with what we had. I did come to the conclusion that I'd be okay with it as a temporary set up (and I weaned off of the tires over the years as we built up other beds) due to the fact that these were used tires (less leaching) and the fact that we used them whole (less surface area exposed to leach, as opposed to the massive surface area in the tire chips). Still, you know there was some leaching and that's why we lessened their use as we could.

Diane

Diane,

I have mixed feelings about tires. Of course, they've been used for decades in the south. Didn't everyone have a family member, friend or neighbor who had tire planters in their front yards in the south in the 1960s? (Some folks still have them today!) We learn more and more all the time, though, about what chemical compounds break down and are released into soil, water, air, etc. and the older I get, the more I want to avoid all those things. While I'd never encourage anyone to plant edibles in tires, I'd defend to the death their right to make that choice for themselves.

I knew you'd used them years ago and wasn't sure if you still used them in your later years in OK.

One thing that really, really bothered me about that link on the rubber pellets in artificial turf installations was the link with MRSA infections. All along, I always assumed all the athletes with these infections were picking them up in locker rooms or weight rooms. What if they're picking them up from the pellets mixed in with the turf? It is an interesting possibility, but certainly not a good one.

How much fun will you have starting over with a new garden this year? I'm worried we'll drive you crazy with talk of planting dates down here in southern OK when you still have snow on the ground there! When I start driving you nuts with talks of planting, remind yourself that I'm so far south in zone 7B that I'm almost in zone 8 and maybe that will make you feel a little better about the time differential.

As far as carrying all those flats in and out and up and down stairs, just remind yourself that it keeps you fit and you don't have to pay for a gym membership because you're doing the "gardener's workout". Of course, you're also doing the "mom's workout" every day so you'll never need a gym membership!

Dawn

Diane, With you family you can just form a "bucket" line or sand bag line. No one has to climb up, just hand the tray to the next one up the line. LOL See there really are advantages to having lots of kids.

I agree that the worst part of seed starting is to move the trays in and out, but they benefit so much from the sunshine.

Thank you SO much for the responses! I really appreciate the input. I hadn't even thought about leaching from that tire, which surprises me because I've been on a crazed hunt to remove all harsh, synthetic chemicals from our home and property. I really want to have the thing removed, but don't know if that's a possibility (don't know if we can afford the cost of removal; I might list on craigslist for free though?)

On the lettuce, it was a shot in the dark. I wasn't sure it would work, but thought I might give it a whirl. I think I'll try in the backyard in the bed where nothing is growing...not sure why I didn't think of that first. The bed with lilies and hostas needs a lot of work, I think. Previous owners planted them there and it really doesn't look good when everything's blooming and growing, though the flowers are beautiful. But there's a lot of other stuff growing there too and I think it should be pulled out. When it's in full display, I'll snap a picture and see if you all can tell me what all is growing there and if I can move the lilies and/or hostas to another location.

This is all so helpful and I really do appreciate every response. I'll be picking your brains more as the planting season draws near.

okieladybug - Lettuce grows great in containers.

Oh, man, I was frothing at the mouth this week about not being able to plant anytime soon! Yesterday, I got all crazy, talking about need potting soil NOW so I could start winter sowing some things. It's not in the budget for a couple of weeks but, dang it, I think I would have sold off a kid or two for a bag of Miracle Grow -- and I hate Miracle Grow. LOL Poor hubby was about ready to straight-jacket me. I finally admitted I was just jealous of the OK gardeners coming up on seed starting time. :-p

Diane

Soonergrandmom: Can I grow it in a container in my house? I was reading online about that, but didn't know if anyone in OK had any luck doing that.

I doubt it. Lettuce is a cool weather crop and I doubt that it would like the temp in your house. Most homes don't have enough light for vegetables to grow. If you have a good light set up for transplants you could start it inside in February and put it outside in March. Just keep an old blanket or something around that you can throw over it if it is going to be really cold. It can take a lot of cold tho. Have you looked at the OSU planting guides?

I tried to find them, but when I clicked on the OSU Extension Fact Sheets link, it kept saying the link was broken? I couldn't find any other link that would take me there. But thank you for the response...I really appreciate it. I think I'll give up on lettuce through winter and sprout seeds instead.

Hi Okieladybug! I wanted to share a lettuce tip that hubs and I discovered quite by mistake: a variety called Winter Density. Some years back it came in a French lettuce seed mix. It grew well that spring and summer, but it wasn't our favorite. We ignored it and it went to seed. That winter, and every winter since, we've had Winter Density volunteers to sustain us through the winter. It's still not our top favorite, but that doesn't mean it's not a good lettuce. Kind of like getting a homemade apple pie when you really prefer fudge brownies. There is something quite satisfying about growing your own lettuce nearly all year round. We've never even covered it and the only time we ever lost it was when we had ice on the trees (and lettuce) for two weeks. You could grow it in containers during the winter, moving it in for extremely severe weather. Winter Density also goes by a couple of French names. You can find it at Johnny's Select Seeds.

Welcome aboard!
Seedmama

PS The OSU fact sheets have been extrememly difficult to access lately. I finally broke down and ordered some paper copies this week. The recommended planting dates for head or leaf lettuce, plants or seed, are February 15 to March 10.

Thank you SO much seedmama!! I will check into that variety. I have some containers sitting empty that I could use. And thank you for the growing dates...I appreciate it!

My first raised bed had wood 2x8 boards, but after they rotted out, I replaced them with concrete blocks that measure 4x16x8. These blocks were 2nds and bought at Dolese SE factory(7100 S. Sunnylane). I laid them end to end and drove aluminum (16")stakes down the interior holes of every other block. 10 foot 1/2 inch aluminum rods can be obtained at Lowes or Home Depot and cut to size. Bermuda grass will try to invade between the cracks, but it can be kept at bay by several methods.

The raised bed must have good soil. I placed ordinary garden soil from Home Depot at $1 or $2 per bag for about $30 and that was a mistake. Now after 12 years, the soil is OK, but it could be better. The 2nd bed, (for flowers only), after killing all grass with glyphosate(Roundup), had all of the clay soil below dug and mixed with 8 forty lb bags of manure, plus 3 big bags of peat moss. Now after 5 years, the bed is OK, but I feel that I could have done better. There must be better soil solutions somewhere.

A year ago in the fall I planted two flats one to lettuce and one to spinach and started them on the warm bench, then moved them to a table in front of the window on the glassed porch. We ate off those little flats for several months. This year didn't do it because my fall planted spinach and lettuce and chinese cabbage was planted in small cold frames in the garden. We are still eating from those right now. We cover with a quilt and tarp on really cold nights and open on sunny above freezing days. As Carol says homes are too warm for lettuce, but an unheated bedroom or porch might work.

Great! Thanks for the suggestions!