Keyhole garden beds
What could be easier than garden in a prove bed ? How about composting at the same time ? Let me introduce you to the keyhole garden . A keyhole garden is a beat raised bed with a Proto-Indo European - slice cutout for access to a composting basket in the center . The layer is fill with rocks , yard waste , analyzable plant material , and a thick layer of dirt / composton the top for planting . The center field goal collects kitchen dissipation and other biodegradables . Watering into the basket disperses wet and nutrients throughout the keyhole . This efficient raised bed method acting of horticulture is often used in areas with poor soil unsuitable forgrowing veggie .
How to build a keyhole garden
Before you get started constructing your keyhole garden , you will want to cook the area . unmortgaged enough region to make the garden no more than 6 feet across , so you may easily progress to to the middle of the bed . Make certain the domain is grade so your bed will not be uneven .
Step 1: Lay out the bed
Drive a stake in the mall of the bed - to - be . Attach a length oftwineloosely to the stake , measure 3 foot out from the center and mark that item on the string with a knot .
Next , slide a stake or screwdriver through the knot and scratch a circle into the soil to mark out the layer like you see above .
Mark the outline of the keyhole bed and compost basket
Sprinkle sand or flour into the expunge line so you could well see the scheme of the raise layer as you work .
Use the same wager and string and make an 18 - column inch - diam circle in the center to identify the composting basket , or use a mint as I did here — an 18 - in . nursery crapper slip over the marrow stake makes a perfect form for the compost basket .
Add an access point to the compost basket
Next , draw a wedge to the centre of the bottom big enough for you to get to the composting basket . Aim this keyhole to the north , the fly-by-night side of the bed , to keep the sunnier daub for mature .
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Step 2: Construct the side walls
imprint the first layer of the outer wall on the pronounced line of reasoning . plenty bricks , stones , landscaping blocks , logs — any number of new or repurposed point can organize the side of your keyhole garden .
I used concrete block to make my keyhole garden . Notches in these concrete block suit tight together help foreclose them from shifting , as you see in the inset exposure above , plus I push rebar wager through the centre of every other block to help oneself stabilize the paries . I topped it off with cap blocks to cover the hole .
Customize the height of your keyhole garden bed
build up the wall to your desired height — whatever is comfortable for you and easy to get at the plants . you’re able to always come out lower and add height later on . It is easier to make the center composting basket before you get the outer paries of the keyhole garden too high .
Step 3: Construct the composting basket
The side of the 18 - inch - wide center composting basketball hoop should be poriferous so pee and nutrients can menstruate into the keyhole garden . I made mine with a cylinder of hardware material , held in place with two rebar stake . crybaby wire , thatching , even a rowing ofbamboo stakesare good materials to mold the handbasket . You may want to build in a obliterable block or control board at the bottom of the keyhole ’s composting basket so you may scoop out land up compost during the mature season . Mine does not have that , but I think it would have made composting easier .
It ’s not a bad idea to put pavers , mental block , crushed rock or even a layer of mulch in the keyhole wedge so it does n’t get muddy as you get at the compost basketball hoop . Here I used leftover cap pulley block and broken pieces of concrete blockage to produce a hefty a property to step .
Step 4: Fill the keyhole bed
Probably the intemperate part of the construction is filling the bed . It does take a mint of soil!The top 18 inches of your raise seam should be a good caliber grease / compost mixture for planting . The bottom can be makeweight . Where keyhole garden are unwashed , lav , rocks , clay pots , branches and all sorts of debris may be tossed in first to fill space , followed by stratum of stain , works matter , woods ash , manure and other biodegradable materials that will become fat compost over meter .
I filled mine with the closing of the twelvemonth ’s debris and parting from my garden killing on the bottom , then compost , some horse manure , and soil from 3 short raised bed I had deconstruct ( and the source of my concrete block ) layer in on top .
This bottom was constructed in the crepuscule so a winter of immobilise and warming would correct the soil and satiate holes deep in the bottom . If you employ a stack of industrial plant junk in the bottom like I did , you may need to add more dirt in the spring since the lower bed will separate down and the layer will bury a span of inch .
Slope the soil layers down and away from the composting basketball hoop to the side bulwark so water will ray out through the garden . When water the seam , be sure to water into the compost basket to keep it moist . The water will also pick up nutrients from the spring up compost and leach them into the soil of the keyhole garden .
Step 5: Add plants to your keyhole garden bed
Since a keyhole garden is commonly more useful than beautiful , it works best for growing vegetables , though there ’s no reason not to add some chase after nasturtiums or genus Petunia for a pretty hint . grease warms up faster in spring in a raised layer like this , so you could get a jumping on planting cool - weather condition vegetable likepeas , Brassica oleracea italica andlettuce . Erect a treillage over the compost hoop to grow vining cucumbers or pole beans . And the best part is , there ’s minimal bend while you weed and harvest time !
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Compost is a bonus of the keyhole garden
The composting basket is a handy style to get disembarrass of kitchen trash and weeds , with the fillip of food added effortlessly to the dirt as those material break down . If the compost basket attracts insects or starts to reek , shake up the compost and sprinkle filth over the top , or total a bed of straw , leaves , rip up composition board or dried forage newspaper clipping to the top . In the spring when the basket contents are all let on down and the basket is full , you may remove the compost to mix into the planting layer of the layer . Apotato forkworks well to pull compost out of the hoop .
Stir it up
you may shift the compost with acompost turneroccasionally throughout the growing season like you see above , but you may also just countenance rubble in the basket to passively compost . In other words , do n’t mix it up and the bottom layer will will break down and you’re able to scoop it out with a small shovel from the bottom as it composts . If you do it this way , it ’s easy to leave a place or a removable venire at the bottom of the basket that give in the wedge to reach the compost .
Try a keyhole bed in your garden!
So if you believe you do n’t have the veracious soil to grow vegetables or enough space to compost , try build a keyhole garden . You ’ll be astounded at what you may do in a 6 - foot roach .
