Building a Living Tyre and Succulent Wall

We've recently finished this beautiful wall in our garden!

One of the downsides to winning our legal battle is the increased level in tourism. It's not all bad - it's good that people can come and see how we live, see what we do - it's helps us and our lifestyle to become more acceptable within mainstream society.

But with that increased interest comes a lack of privacy. We don't have  boundaries in the traditional sense, no gates or fences, and our plots appear intermingled and organic. These factors lead people to not consider our privacy, because in many minds the lack of visible boundaries equates to everything being open and accessible.

And so we've been getting creative in ways to put that privacy back into place. One problem area for us is the path that runs from the top of the plot down to the bus door - it's a long straight line, visible from the public areas of the Yard - and people are constantly walking down it, seemingly oblivious to all the other indicators that this is a private area. 

With my love of using old tyres and growing hardy succulent plants, we decided to build a tyre wall. A tyre wall would be in keeping with the plot, and wouldn't be as hard or aggressive as a more traditional wall or fence. It would let light through, and I could use the space as a vertical garden, as well as reuse and upcycle a while bunch of tyres destined for disposal.

The best tyres for this job are small motorcycle or moped tyres - their inner circle is smaller, and less see-through. 

These kind of tyres take a bit of hunting, they're not as abundant as car tyres. Once found though, they'll make a much more interesting feature and useful wall than car tyres.

If you're working with tyres that are all the same size, slotting them together so that all the tyres touch and connect is pretty easy. You're more than likely however to have odd-sized tyres, and they take a bit of juggling to get right. I also think odd tyres looks better, too - they're more interesting, visually.

Structurally, those tyres all need to connect - they all have to be bolted together in as many places as possible to ensure the wall is stable - any gaps between tyres is going to cause problems.

Once you've got the layout just right, you'll want to screw them together temporarily to allow the rest of the structure to be built around them.

Maintaining the circular pattern was important to us, and we didn't want to reinforce the structure with metal going right across the tyres. Instead, Tom used steel rods that could be bent around the tyres and connected, to help hold them all in place. Mig welding is required for this bit, but it's an easy project to manage.

The rods are curved so they sit around the tyres, with the structure appearing on both sides of the wall. The rods are then joined with bars to ensure a stronger skeletal structure. 

There are lots of different ways you could do this, and a frame built from scaff would also be a good choice, especially if the tyres are all similar in size. 

Once this part is done and the metal skeleton is all in place, those temporary screws were then replaced with nuts and bolts and small flat pieces of aluminium within the tyres to make those connections rigid, and the tyres less likely to tear. 

From there, the next dilemma was triangulation - the wall is strong but flexible in and off itself, but it needs support vertically against the container it will be connected to. 

Again, this was managed discreetly with steel rods, and I don't think I managed to get a photo of this bit, sorry! Anyone building something like this should already know about triangulation but if they don't, Google is your friend.

In terms of metal choices - these steel rods are flexible and easy to bend, and they will also rust over time and blend in to the general environment. We're lovers of rusty metal; it ages and changes and tells a story all it's own - constantly shiny can get a bit boring ;)

And with the wall securely in place, the next task was planting! 

When it comes to plants, I really wouldn't recommend anything other than succulents (including cacti). They have a very small root structure, store water in their leaves, and *love* the heat and sunshine. The tyres will get hot and most plants wouldn't handle a small, hot root space.

I grow a fair few winter hardy succulents on the plot, and they're something I've grown and collected for many, many years - I know pretty well how they behave.

For instance - quite a few of the moveable planters in our garden are old washing machine drums. Most plants suffer with the heat and dehydration in these metal containers, and die. However all of the cacti and succulents - whether they be the Opuntias, Aloes or Delospermas - thrive. The heat at their roots doesn't bother them. And the lack of root space really isn't a problem, either - the Opuntias in the washing machine drums are a good size!

For our tyre wall I wanted a mix of small bushy succulents and trailers. Most of these I had around the garden already and know their hardiness, but I did buy a couple of Delospermas at the local nursery, as their flowers are beautiful and I fancied some colour amongst that structural greenery.

These plants (known as Ice Plants in their native South Africa) are slightly more tender then most of the Sedums, Echeverias or Crassulas I've planted in the wall - they tend to dislike too much frost or lack of sunshine in the winter. The positioning of the wall however should mean they get sun most of the day, even in winter, and they should be fine. The plants I bought were too big for the tyre space so I split them and have spares, just in case. 

And that's pretty much it, really! I haven't yet got full photos of the wall, as the sun is over exposing everything if I step back to fill the frame, and the shade Tom put up to work under is still up. Until then, here's a section of the wall, in its freshly planted glory. 

I can't wait to see how this wall grows and develops! And before Tom had finished building the wall, it was already serving it's purpose - the line of sight is broken and it's given visitors to the Yard something much more interesting to look at than our garden path. 

Don't forget that if you're on Instagram, the #tyregardenofmutonia tag is the one to check to see more about our garden. Enjoy! 

My local yarn shop

Is up for sale. We suspect it's the premises, not the business, that's selling and in turn we suspect that means the closure of the shop.

 This is where I come for buttons and other haberdashery bits and pieces when I'm in Santarcangelo. The yarn they stock is from two Italian brands only, and in this way it reminds me of the yarn shop that was local to me when I was growing - not that they sold Italian yarn, but that their range was limited to more traditional, big mill yarns. 

 Inside it's an Aladdin's cave, as many older yarn shops are. So many things to spy and look at, although at the same time it means you have to ask for things rather than pick them off the shelf, which is something I still struggle with. 

She has an amazing selection of buttons and threads and I'm planning to stock up on decent sewing threads in the next couple of weeks, assuming I'm not too late.

 I'd like to think that whoever buys the shop keeps it as a yarn shop, but it seems highly unlikely. I'll miss this place. 

Cottage Notebook - a podcast interview

Indeed you can pop over and listen to myself and Nadia chatting about all sorts!

Linky: http://www.cottagenotebook.ie/podcast/cottage-tour-woolly-wormhead/

We recorded the interview in the magnificent ballroom that I taught in, which does give it a bit of an echo, but don't let that put you off. We had a good laugh whilst recording, and it really was a fun thing to do.

(shall I confess that we sat on the floor inside a large wardrobe unit within the ballroom to reduce the echo? We tried sitting in every part of the room, and it was really the only room available to us! It's certainly a day to remember ;)

Howler, boy wonder cat

Today needs pictures of cats.

It's been 3 weeks since we took on responsibility of this fella, and his progress is keeping us smiling. He's discovered laps and the sofa and the bed. His coat has softened and recovered, and he's found himself all the places to hang out and dose on our plot.

Go for a walk, and he'll go with you. Tom's dog-sitting Kai for a few weeks, and Howler goes for a walk with them, all the way to wherever and all the way back.

Princess Fi is getting used to him being around, and Howler's getting used to giving her her space.

It doesn't seem to matter what kind of creature you are; if you sit still for more than a few minutes, he'll come and sit with you. Kai is finding this all rather strange (especially as the white one is all too ready to get her claws out) but she's rolling with it.

We had a hiccup last week when we had to take him back to the vets. Not only did he need a Herpes vaccine (which is the cause of his cloudy and runny eyes) but also because his inner eyelids were right up - the vet, an eye specialist, believes the issue is bugs that need evicting, and meds have been had. He'll always have cloudy eyes, but the vet is expecting improvements in a couple of weeks.

Bless him, he's taken it all in his stride.

We're still smarting after the result of last week's referendum, as you can imagine. We're letting the dust settle and talking through our options. We can't do anything just yet, but we know which direction we want to go in, and that feels like a start.

I'm back in the studio today and will be getting back into things, slowly. Thanks for your patience :)

EYF here I come!

I head off towards Edinburgh in the wee hours of tomorrow morning for Edinburgh Yarn Festival!

And these beauties will make up my travel knitting. Both are commissioned designs, and with airport and bus time I should get them both finished! (famous last words)

The yellower green to the left is Kinlun from Miss Babs Yarn, in shade 'Hops' and the other is Ginger Twist Studio Masham Mayhem DK in shade 'Part of your World' (which ahem came all the way from Edinburgh).

I'm looking forward to catching up with friends this weekend, exploring Edinburgh (I haven't visited in about 20 years) and meeting lots of new knitters, in particular those taking my classes. Reckon we're on for a pretty good weekend :)

If you're around and about at EYF saturday morning, I'm signing copies of Painted Woolly Toppers at The Knitting Goddess stand from 11.30am to 12 - do pop along, try on a few Hats and I'll sign your book for you!

Joy has knitted all of the Hats from the book in her yarns, so you can perfectly match yarn to pattern. I'm on hand to give some Hat wearing advice, too, during the signing and Hat Clinic is always fun!

Before I go offline and spend an evening with my boys, I quickly want to tell you that I'll be donating £180.14 to Kidney Research UK from the sales of Torsione when I get back! This is brilliant, thank you! March is my quietest month of the year pattern sales wise, and that makes it even more special that so many of you offered your support - thank you.