Keyhole Garden

[txdon]

I'm going to build a keyhole garden. It is basically a (6') round (3') raised bed garden with access to the middle (shaped like a keyhole) where compost is deposited which feeds the plants as it decomposes. Does anyone have one and if so how is it working out?

 

[MossRoad]

Sounds interesting. Any pictures?

 

[jinman]

Don, have you been reading your Texas Coop Power magazine? The article this month is too obvious to be a coincidence.

 

[blueriver]

My wife kinda does that with a herb garden ... she had me get a big old tractor rear tire and some dirt ... she took the first year composting in the tire and mixing in dirt ... as for how its working I don't know ... she swears by it.

She has parsley, winter onions, dill, mustard seed (greens) and I think more. I can tell you when its time we have an abundance of the stuff she has in it. I love those winter onions.

I remember once she brought in some tomatoes at a weird time of the year ... when I asked her about it ... she said I guess they just grew from the tomatoe's I was composting.

 

[txdon]

Don, have you been reading your Texas Coop Power magazine? The article this month is too obvious to be a coincidence.

Yes Jim. I had raised beds before and do composting but never combined the two at the same time in the same bed.

 

[Bob in Maine]

If you search for keyhole gardens and permaculture, you'll find plenty of information. Keyhole beds are used regularly in permaculture gardening. Happy digging! Still a ways off before we'll be digging in our frozen soil in Maine, but we're getting there (right?).

Bob

 

[txdon]

The concept was taken from this web site
Texas Co-op Power Magazine - Texas Stories: Keyhole Gardening - An Online Community for Members of Texas Electric Cooperatives

and is now under construction.

 

[BrianDT]

So what do you do when the center basket fills up? Is this something you dig out each year and start over?

 

[RobertN]

Tons of info in a Google search. Interesting...

http://www.rice.edu/energy/research/poverty&energy/lesothoproject/khg card final ENGLISH-2.pdf

http://www.debtolman.com/keyhole.pdf

 

[txdon]

So what do you do when the center basket fills up? Is this something you dig out each year and start over?

Good Question. Since you water from the center, I would think as the center decomposes it turns to soil and runs out. But at some time I also think it will fill up. I'll find out. I'll make the center basket wide enough to get a shovel in it.

Thanks for the links Robert. I'll soon be at the point of filling it up and the links gave me some ideas of what to do with some cow bones.

 

[Taylortractornut]

I do something similar with some of my tomatos I use a wire basket and fill it with manure and other organic materials and then plant my mater plants around it and center water it. Then in a the fall Ill open it up and let it rot the rest of the year. I ave a friend that has one with a hoop structure he built over it in the winter. He grows something year round. The center hole almost filled up last year but its rotted donw a great amount this year.

 

[Jstpssng]

If you search for keyhole gardens and permaculture, you'll find plenty of information. Keyhole beds are used regularly in permaculture gardening. Happy digging! Still a ways off before we'll be digging in our frozen soil in Maine, but we're getting there (right?).

Bob

Interesting concept. I've been helping a friend get into gardening on her postage stamp lot; this has potential :thumbsup:

And don( worry, we'll be fighting blackflies before you know it.

 

[txdon]

I finally gathered all the ingredients for the Keyhole Garden: bones of two cows, ash from one brush pile, aged dried poop from a dozen cows, five bags of clover, a pile of forest floor mulch, cardboard, rusty items, and 15 buckets of two year old compost. I layer them according to directions and it is ready to add seeds/plants in a about a month.

 

[EddieWalker]

Learned something new again on TBN!!!!!!

I'm curious how it will handle the heat of summer? Raised beds are great for cooler climates, but from what I've been told, they get warmer then in the ground gardens and the plants die from the soil drying out faster.

Eddie

 

[jinman]

Don, if it doesn't work out as a garden, it'll make a beautiful flower bed. Just think what it would look like with petunias growing over the sides and other annuals planted near the center for a rainbow of color. Heck! I'd be tempted to put about a hundred tulip bulbs in there.:thumbsup:

Yep, I know it's supposed to be a garden, but it sure is pretty.

 

[txdon]

Eddie, I'll let you know in the middle of the summer. Most of the composted material in the garden will hold water like a sponge. I did put a small bamboo roof to shade it in the afternoon.

Jim, I can picture flowers also. What started out as a raised bed with a place to put kitchen scrapes ended up as the garden focal point.

 

[johnnyvol]

Dragging out and old thread; how'd this work out for you Don?

 

[NativeSon]

Learned something new again on TBN!!!!!!

I'm curious how it will handle the heat of summer? Raised beds are great for cooler climates, but from what I've been told, they get warmer then in the ground gardens and the plants die from the soil drying out faster.

Eddie

Eddie, I've done the raised bed(row) and covered them with the black fabric mulch. The fabric holds in the moisture and helps heat the soil in the early spring. When the weather turns warm I cover it with straw or hay that will stop the warming and help hold moisture in the soil. This method also cuts down on the weeding that has to be done. When cleaning the garden after the season the soil is still very moist and the root growth on the removed plants is very good.

There has to be a million ways to skin a cat and to work a garden. That's the fun of it.

Charlie

 

[farmer2009]

Eddie,

I seen something a couple weeks back on Ask This Old House. They were in Arizona i think. They dug into the ground a couple of inches and used the dirt to make a burm. Then when they watered all the water ran to the plants and they said because it was dug into the soil it helped to keep it cooler. Maybe worth a look atleast. Forgot the name of it though.

 

[txdon]

Dragging out and old thread; how'd this work out for you Don?

It worked good - except

I should have put mortar in-between the rocks.

Sooooo

I took the entire keyhole garden apart, poured a circular slab and re-set each rock in mortar. It retains moister better and the soil does not leak out in-between the rocks. We have been putting veggie scraps in the center for two years and still have a foot to go before it is full. It just keeps on composting away….