Raised Beds From Bike Wheels

I make these from bike wheels.
Mostly using hardware cloth and zipties.
These are for my moms house.
They will be placed in the shade of the sweet gum tree and planted with kale, collard and mustard greens.
Each has a wheel with half the spokes cut out to act as a "lid", because she has rodent and deer pressure.
Each will get an olla of some kind.

The newest design uses pallet wood and deckscrews.
I will line it with cardboard before I fill it.

I made it very tall to make harvest easier for my momma.
She has a sunny spot by her backdoor that should be good for peppers
It will get a screened in enclosure on top and a HUGE olla in the base.
I might use a weed torch to give it a blackened finish.

Going forward I'm hoping to uses wire or even bike spokes to affix the pallet wood to the rims.
Right now I'm not sure if the there is any advantage over an all wood rectangular bed.

I am looking for good ways to cover the edges of hardware cloth, so far I'm leaning towards split hose but I'm hoping for better ideas from y'all.

Old garden hose is good for being free, smooth, soft, flexible, easy to cut, long enough pieces, colorful, looks like it belongs in a garden.

Sandwiching the hardware cloth between the bicycle rims and something else would "hide" the edge of the hardware cloth, even if it isn't completely covered, A hoop or band of plastic or metal, which could be pallet banding, strips cut from something plastic like a garbage can (salvage one with a broken bottom?)

Another idea would take the place of the zip ties. Wrap the hardware cloth onto the rim by lacing rope, twine, string trimmer line (the smooth stuff), broken extension cords... through a hole in the mesh, around the rim, through the next hole, and so on until complete. The thicker the stuff, is probably better since the spaces between will be narrower and deeper. This idea for fastening might also be a way of securing the split garden hose.

Some sheet metal thing like a tight U-shape that could slip over the edge of the hardware cloth when flat, and be crimped in place or soldered on, then bent into the cylinder shape together. I'm thinking I've seen something similar done on the edges of lids for fish tanks and terrariums for reptiles. HVAC ductwork is joined using "drive cleats" or "S-cleats" which can be found at the home improvement stores. They are narrow strips that are rolled/folded to have the sharp edges enclosed, and are made to slip the sharp edges of the duct sections into to join them together.

Kenneth,  those are some great suggestions!
I especially love using  a thicker cord to whip stitch the metal to the bike wheel.
I like the sheet metal fittings as well.
Your post got me thinking, I have 1/4"  tubing, it would fit nicely, but I also could cut strips of PET plastic from a soda bottle the fold and seam them with an iron.
The key is balancing cheap, with fast and good.
I might switch to self tapping roofing screws for securing the wood to the rims, for speed and quality, despite the cost.

Using  copper wire to secure  wood to a rim might be cheaper.
Done correctly there would be few joints, plus the look would be pretty nice.
I'm imagining a backstitch sort of pattern.
It would take some  time, but I might not mind.

William Bronson wrote:
The key is balancing cheap, with fast and good.

As the saying goes, pick two.

I like the lashing /whipping idea since it eliminates the zip ties, and reduces the chance of being poked by the edge of the mesh. (the zip ties might be useful as a temporary fastening to line things up) You could cut old garden hose into ribbons and use that for the cord as well, if you didn't have something else, and time... but a slitting jig could be easily made with some utility blades mounted to a guide.

The copper wire idea for the boards could look quite nice! It would take time but the result would be worth it. Maybe if the wood was ripped into strips as wide as the space between the spoke holes, or some multiple 2,3,4, you could more easily do some sort of lacing without drilling holes.

Since you have bike wheels, do you have dead inner tubes?

Split in half longwise could cover the sharp edges.
Cut longwise into narrow strips for wrapping and ties.
Cut short wise into loops to make rubber bands.

William Bronson wrote:, because she has rodent and deer pressure.

Interesting!
But how does a bike wheel keep out rodents?
Actually deer could likely fit their muzzles in there too.. 🤔

tuffy monteverdi wrote:

William Bronson wrote:, because she has rodent and deer pressure.

Interesting!
But how does a bike wheel keep out rodents?
Actually deer could likely fit their muzzles in there too.. 🤔

I add chicken wire or hardware cloth to a wheel, then use it as a lid.

tuffy monteverdi wrote:how does a bike wheel keep out rodents?

If anyone hasn't seen the beginning of this thread (I know it's old) you really should scroll up to the top to see pics. I thought this was a fabulous reuse solution.

William Bronson wrote:
I add chicken wire or hardware cloth to a wheel, then use it as a lid.

Ah ok thanks
I can’t see the chicken wire on the wheel - only in the sides!
Got it! Thanks

Tereza Okava wrote:

tuffy monteverdi wrote:how does a bike wheel keep out rodents?

If anyone hasn't seen the beginning of this thread (I know it's old) you really should scroll up to the top to see pics. I thought this was a fabulous reuse solution.

I read from the beginning; but wasn’t able to see the chicken wire on the actual wheel. Just on the sides.

For reuse of the wheel, we incorporate them in brick walls as “windows” to let in light in select areas.

For a garden bed in the above situation, I’d just put the gopher wire (not chicken wire) across the bed top and afix w wire, instead of using the wheel also, personally. To each their own.

William Bronson wrote: I am looking for good ways to cover the edges of hardware cloth, so far I'm leaning towards split hose but I'm hoping for better ideas from y'all.

Have you considered using old inner tubes instead? Our bike shops give holey ones away for free, as many people use them for tying things down. I have used them as "hinges" on chicken infrastructure. I have not specifically tried to cover hardware cloth edges, but I do recognize the importance of doing so. The last time I needed that done, I used hockey tape, but I expect the inner tubes would last longer.

Yeah, these beds were in various states of being finished, and like most of my projects they still are!

I grew some nice greens in them,but when it was time for a reset, I decided the hardware cloth was too valuable to be used  as a raised bed.
Now, I use theses as cages on top of half barrels.

Rather than putting a nicer finish the taller bed, I've used aty place for a variety of things.
I built Mom a much nicer bed, one that is cranking out greens.
It still uses bike times, but in a different role.

I still mess with these ideas and materials.
For example, recently I looked into using pop rivets for a nice strong connection and no pointy screw ends.
At the lengths and diameters available, they just won't work for me, but it has me considering nails of all things.

I don't use nails, pretty much ever.
My lack of coordination leads to bad joints, ugly joints and sore thumbs.
But my goodness they are cheap, they require no electricity and they can be bent over when they are too long, something screws can't really do.
So they might be right for this application.

If I first assemble a wood/ bike rim bed using screws, I can get them together pretty fast and  easily, but the screws are expensive, and they have pointy bits that need to be cut off.
If I replace each screw , one by one, with a nail, I can drive them in an existing hole and then hammer the end of the nail over.
I think this would lead to a better, cheaper and stronger item.


I say item, because I want to think of these things as multi use.
I think they could be good for storing wood for charcoal making, but maybe also good as bench, a garden bed or whatever else a sturdy wood/ metal basket might be good for.

Visited Moms yesterday.
My sister was coming over to cook for her, so I harvested greens.