What You'll Need
Here's a fun way to keep the kids busy during the holidays that doesn't cost much. Most parents start pulling their hair out when school's out, wondering how to keep the kids entertained without just sticking them in front of a screen. This solves that problem and gets them outside.
You're going to build a tower of painted tires and turn them into a colorful garden. The best part? You can get the tires for free.
- 3-6 old tires (go to your local tire shop — they'll usually give you these for nothing)
- PVA paint in any color you want (white works great as a base)
- Funky leftover paints for decorating
- A black plastic garbage bag
- Drainage pebbles or gravel
- Potting soil
- Bone meal (optional, but good for the plants)
- Plants — go for bright, easy-care stuff like statice, geraniums, or bidens
Step 1: Paint the Tires
Put down some plastic sheeting to protect your grass or driveway. Then just start painting the tires with your base coat of PVA paint. White is classic, but you can use whatever color you want. The kids can go to town on this — if they get paint all over themselves, water washes it off. Painting six tires will keep them busy for a solid two hours.
Step 2: Set Up Your Tower
Take one tire and put it where you want your garden to go. Line the inside with a black plastic garbage bag — this stops soil from falling through. Punch a couple of holes in the plastic for drainage.
Stack your tires however you want. I put the widest one at the bottom for stability, then stacked two more on top. You can try all sorts of combinations. That's the beauty of this — if you get bored of the colors, just repaint them.
Step 3: Decorate
This is where you let the kids go wild. Paint whatever you want on the tires — flowers, dog paws, skeletons, stick figures. There's no wrong way to do this. I attempted some flowers on mine and let's just say my art teacher would be spinning in her grave. But I had fun doing it.
Use lots of different colors. Dots, lines, patterns — whatever comes to mind.
Step 4: Plant It Up
Throw some drainage pebbles into the bottom of each tire in the tower. Then add potting soil. Mix in some bone meal if you've got it — it's good stuff for the plants.
For the plants themselves, think bright and low-maintenance. I used statice (also called limonium) — it comes in purple and white, makes great cut flowers, and the blooms last for months. Even after they die back, they keep their color. You can pick them and put them in a vase without water and they'll still look good.
Add some geraniums — they don't need much water. If you live somewhere with lots of summer rain, cut back on watering because they're getting enough from the sky. Watch for white powdery stuff on the leaves — that means they're getting too much moisture.
I also used bidens (from the blackjack family) for extra color, and some nasturtiums because they're tough as nails.
Step 5: Arrange Everything
Put your tallest plant in the center of the top tire. Work your way down with the other plants. Fill in gaps so it looks full and colorful.
What I'd Do Differently
My painting skills are questionable at best, but the project still turned out great. The plants do all the heavy lifting visually. If you're not confident with a paintbrush, just do solid colors and let the plants be the decoration.
What to Plant Next Time
When you get bored of these plants, pull them out and put them in the ground somewhere. Then use the tire tower for something else — seed potatoes, veggies, climbing beans, or different summer plants. The options are endless.
Go grab some tires, get the kids painting, and make your own signature tire garden. It's cheap, it's fun, and it keeps everyone busy for a whole afternoon.
