Keyhole Gardens

I ran across an article about Keyhole Gardens this morning in Herb Quarterly.  The Spring 2014 edition arrived in our box at work.  I took a stroll through it before putting it on the shelf, and I found a fascinating look at Keyhole Gardens.

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

These gardens are an idea from Africa.  These gardens are designed to conserve water and nutrients, and to help nurture a garden in even the most challenging of garden climates.

The idea was brought to the United States by Dr. Deb Tolman, These nifty little gardens combine a raised bed, a lasagna garden, and an active mulch pile to help nurture plants in even the hottest and driest of climates.  Dr. Tolman grows her gardens in the Texas Hill Country... a very hot, dry, and inhospitable place for gardens under the best of conditions.  Remarkably enough, these keyhole gardens grow thriving vegetables!

image: http://keyholefarm.com/

The secret to these gardens is twofold: first, the gardens are constructed in a circle.  A small keyhole, or access area extends from the center of the garden to the exterior.  The soil is layered with manure, green stuff, brown stuff, and potting soil.  Second, a circle is left in the middle of the garden.  This circle is maintained with chicken wire, and this is where a working compost pile is kept.  Vegetable scraps, lawn clippings, and manure are layered in this center circle.  When you go to water your garden, you water through the center hole, so that the nutrients from the compost pile go out into the garden.  Because of the small, compact nature of the garden, it is easy to mulch the garden as needed.



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

These keyhole gardens can be any size that you wish.  Dr. Tolman's gardens are 6 feet across. 
They can be made of any materials that you have laying around.  The ones I've shown here are all made of stones and bricks.  But, when I was looking through the website at http://www.inspirationgreen.com/keyhole-gardens.html, I noticed that they were made of just about everything, from rocks to landscaping bricks to wine bottles and beer bottles.  The gardens in the U.S. and the U.K. tend to be a little higher.  Those in Rwanda tend to be shorter and closer to the ground.  As the organic matter in the garden rises, the walls also rise.

It's a fascinating concept!  Since I have yet to plant my gardens this year, I'm looking at the keyhole garden and thinking that it looks like a fantastic idea.  It looks easy to manage, and it looks as if it can be made of recycled  materials that I already have laying around the house.

So, I've been researching all afternoon, looking to see how feasible this idea is for a garden, and I'm liking what I see.  I will be building one of these in our back yard this year.

Take a look at the websites I've been visiting and take a look at what I'm talking about.  This is an exciting idea for sustainable gardening!

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

Keyhole Farm
http://keyholefarm.com/

Deb Tolman
http://debtolman.com/

Horticulture Magazine
http://www.hortmag.com/weekly-tips/garden-design/the-ins-and-outs-of-a-keyhole-garden