I can tell you that I would advise heavy use of raised beds. the "soil" here in Perth is just awful. sandy, hydrophobic and the ants just love it.G'day folks. I'm Daryl from Two Rocks north of Perth. WA. We live in an area of very sandy soil and we're wondering what we can grow here and do people agree with using tractor or truck tyres as garden beds?
i agree don't use tires / tyres for raised bed for vegetables, for flowers or decorative item maybe. A few years ago numerous companies were using them to make a material used in playgrounds they found the recycled material was causing breathing and other health problems in kids from off gassing and physical contact. high level of 6PPD-quinone an additive used in tires rubber stabilizer to prevent degradation and cracking of the rubber compounds and degrades into a highly toxic chemical has been found in road side streams where rubber dust from tires has washed into streams and then leached out into the water and breaks down into toxins. that's why its a major world problem on disposal of tires and most places now incinerate under extreme high heat to destroy these chemicals and have special scrubbers in the smokes stacksClimate wise it's a great spot, you should be able to grow pretty much anything you want.
Not much likes the sandy soil though. Cos lettuce & chinese cabbage were the only thing I had luck with. Raised beds are a must.
I've heard that tyres can leach chemicals into the soil, so if you use them, line with a good uv stable plastic.
A good cheap raised bed option i've seen recently is using jute matting surrounded by galvanised steel mesh- dog/bird/chiicken wire. You can make 15 1mtr round beds for about $250.