Keyhole Gardens

[HoneyBerry]

Something I'd like to try.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/keyhole-gard ... 48280.html

[HoneyBerry]

Also, some good stuff on this site about keyhole gardening.


http://www.inspirationgreen.com/keyhole-gardens.html

[applestar]

Definitely try this.

I've yet to make one to the actual design of high raised bed, and there are all kinds of ways to tweak the basic design but I found that the compost pile in the middle concept really works and I think that the project itself to teach this simple and basic design that uses locally available materials to help people grow food is a wonderful one.

[rainbowgardener]

I hadn't realized before, the keyhole garden, at least in the African version, is also a kind of hugelkultur. In building the high raised bed, it has lots of browns at the bottom - wood, logs, in one case from the second link "the bones of two dead cows," etc.

The notch part is so that you can keep adding compostables to the center pile as well as watering through the center.

Does that mean you should treat it like a spiral garden - plant the most water loving stuff near the center and drought tolerant stuff around the outside? It seems like if you only water the center, the area right around that would get more of the water and nutrients. Might make the outer edge a good place to grow sage and other Mediterranean herbs, that don't need a lot of water or fertility.

[imafan26]

The original gardens were developed by sendacow humanitarian organization. It utilizes creating the garden out of materials that are readily available and where it was originally used in Lesoto.It was designed for the central basket to act as a filter for grey water. The soil is sloped away from the basket and the seeds are countour planted in circles or curves to prevent erosion. It is best for root and leafy crops but not recommended for large crops like tomatoes, eggplant or corn which take up more space.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I-_6Bog-rM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grritAZ7CHI

[HoneyBerry]

Coincidentally, I just noticed Applestar's post on Oct 6 about her keyhole garden. Nice pictures as usual.

[imafan26]

Applestar is always so innovative. Her garden is amazing. I think her keyhole garden was inspired by the keyhole garden design but it is not built the same way. I like her spiral garden and I am just amazed by all the varieties of tomatoes she can grow in winter indoors. I only have three tomatoes if you don't count the wild ones, that I would plant on purpose.

[applestar]

Thank you SO MUCH for your kind words.

It always gives me such a warm fuzzy feeling to think my posts inspired someone else

[digitS']

I have often grown crops on what was my compost pile/bin.

. . . Might make the outer edge a good place to grow sage and other Mediterranean herbs, that don't need a lot of water or fertility.

"Stealth" Urban Chicken Coop

The same design idea could provide for a stealth chicken coop with a roof garden.

The central compost may or may not fit with that scheme.

Steve

[applestar]

...you are giving me ideas...

[rainbowgardener]

Yes.... It won't be this year, but now that I am a country girl, I would like to have a few hens some time. ...

[imafan26]

Some of the keyhole gardens have a roof like structure built over it for growing squash or providing shade in the summer.

[Asica]

I build one this year. I wanted to have a garden with little water use, zone 9.
I love it so far. Everything grows very well. The seeds sprout very fast. It just happened to be hot for the next two months after I build the garden so I bought a cover for it. Once the plants got established, I do not use any cover. I have to say that the soil always feels very wet. The whole project took me four-five hours. We build ours using bricks. Inside I put cardboard, manure, wood, and composts while watering the whole time. I finished with top soil, and planted the same day. I cover everything with wood chips. For the compost basket, I used chicken wire, but I would recommend putting cardboard inside it so animals will not try to dig around the compost. I also put plastic forks outside the compost basket because animals were digging.
I am thinking about building three more keyhole gardens since they take less water than other raised gardens. I will try to post pictures later.

[applestar]

Ooh sounds great! Looking forward to the pictures.