Keyhole gardens

Sherry Robitson

Texas Bluebonnets
Premium Member
GOLD
Joined
Oct 13, 2017
Messages
32
Location
Kingsland, Texas
Climate
Sub-Tropical
Does anyone out there have a keyhole garden?Here is a picture of mine last fall when the greens were just getting started good
 

Attachments

  • 11F1A44A-49BB-46D0-BBF6-B949C253EF59.jpeg
    11F1A44A-49BB-46D0-BBF6-B949C253EF59.jpeg
    414.5 KB · Views: 1,148

Mark

Founder
Staff member
Premium Member
GOLD
Joined
May 27, 2012
Messages
5,192
Location
Bellmere, QLD
Website
www.selfsufficientme.com
Climate
Sub-Tropical
I like your garden beds and I have some questions:
  1. How high are they?
  2. Did you make them?
  3. If not, where did you get them from?
I retrofitted some square garden beds into keyhole...
key hole keyhole raised garden beds.jpg


Here's a video I did on how I did it (starts 6:50 into the video as it's a bit long-winded but you can play it in full if you want the context).
 

Sherry Robitson

Texas Bluebonnets
Premium Member
GOLD
Joined
Oct 13, 2017
Messages
32
Location
Kingsland, Texas
Climate
Sub-Tropical
5E175A7A-3095-42E0-8795-C44E9B73CF38.jpeg
I like your garden beds and I have some questions:
  1. How high are they?
  2. Did you make them?
  3. If not, where did you get them from?
I retrofitted some square garden beds into keyhole...
View attachment 2902

Here's a video I did on how I did it (starts 6:50 into the video as it's a bit long-winded but you can play it in full if you want the context).
The keyhole gardens is a circle 6 feet in diameter and 3 ft high with the keyhole wedge cut. There is a compost basket about 1 ft in diameter and little bit taller than the garden. The garden is watered through this basket providing your plants compost tea evertime time it’s watered.
The garden can be made of stone, rock, old tires, sticks, or anything that can hold the weight of the soil. My husband has a very bad back, so we bought keyhole garden kits from keyholefarm.com
This is a youclip introducing Dr Deb Tolman. She perfected this particular garden.
 

Steve

Valued Member
Premium Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2013
Messages
670
Location
Brisbane Australia
They're some nice looking beds.
Is that corrugated iron or plastic?
My only concern would be if the top edge is sharp.

(it probably explains it in the video but I'm not able to view it right now...)
 

Sherry Robitson

Texas Bluebonnets
Premium Member
GOLD
Joined
Oct 13, 2017
Messages
32
Location
Kingsland, Texas
Climate
Sub-Tropical
Does anyone out there have a keyhole garden?Here is a picture of mine last fall when the greens were just getting started good
View attachment 2903
The keyhole gardens is a circle 6 feet in diameter and 3 ft high with the keyhole wedge cut. There is a compost basket about 1 ft in diameter and little bit taller than the garden. The garden is watered through this basket providing your plants compost tea evertime time it’s watered.
The garden can be made of stone, rock, old tires, sticks, or anything that can hold the weight of the soil. My husband has a very bad back, so we bought keyhole garden kits from keyholefarm.com
This is a youclip introducing Dr Deb Tolman. She perfected this particular garden.
They're some nice looking beds.
Is that corrugated iron or plastic?
My only concern would be if the top edge is sharp.

(it probably explains it in the video but I'm not able to view it right now...)
The kits we bought are made of polycarbonate and are not sharp. I was assured they are food safe. The beds can be made of anything, stone, rock, sticks, etc. just so they will hold soil. The important thing are the exact measurements, and the compost basket in the middle.
We bought kits because my husband has a bad back. We have had them for 4 years and they show no wear...
 

Sherry Robitson

Texas Bluebonnets
Premium Member
GOLD
Joined
Oct 13, 2017
Messages
32
Location
Kingsland, Texas
Climate
Sub-Tropical
The kits we bought are made of polycarbonate and are not sharp. I was assured they are food safe. The beds can be made of anything, stone, rock, sticks, etc. just so they will hold soil. The important thing are the exact measurements, and the compost basket in the middle.
We bought kits because my husband has a bad back. We have had them for 4 years and they show no wear...
I love the compost basket because you not only give your plants compost tea every time you water, but the baskets are full of earthworms which also adds worm castings.
 

Mark

Founder
Staff member
Premium Member
GOLD
Joined
May 27, 2012
Messages
5,192
Location
Bellmere, QLD
Website
www.selfsufficientme.com
Climate
Sub-Tropical
This is a youclip introducing Dr Deb Tolman. She perfected this particular garden.
That's very interesting and it's quite similar to the raised bed hugelkultur method I've been using in my high sided raised garden beds.

I found this keyhole bed for sale the USA https://bit.ly/2zhUrHk what's interesting is the concept (as outlined in the video Sherry posted) of composting in the garden bed itself rather than having a separate compost bin or worm farm.
 

Sherry Robitson

Texas Bluebonnets
Premium Member
GOLD
Joined
Oct 13, 2017
Messages
32
Location
Kingsland, Texas
Climate
Sub-Tropical
That's very interesting and it's quite similar to the raised bed hugelkultur method I've been using in my high sided raised garden beds.

I found this keyhole bed for sale the USA https://bit.ly/2zhUrHk what's interesting is the concept (as outlined in the video Sherry posted) of composting in the garden bed itself rather than having a separate compost bin or worm farm.
I am getting some New raised beds that will be 18 inches tall. I plan to use the Hegelkultur method in the bottom. Are these beds deep enough?
 

Mark

Founder
Staff member
Premium Member
GOLD
Joined
May 27, 2012
Messages
5,192
Location
Bellmere, QLD
Website
www.selfsufficientme.com
Climate
Sub-Tropical
Are these beds deep enough?
No, not really...

To Huglekultur in a raised bed effectively you'd want about 18 inches in fill and then about another 12 inches for growing medium.

But, if that's the height you want it's still good to pack the base with sticks and organic matter up to about 6 inches and then fill the rest with growing medium - soil, compost, mulch etc. This will become a nice garden bed.
 

Sherry Robitson

Texas Bluebonnets
Premium Member
GOLD
Joined
Oct 13, 2017
Messages
32
Location
Kingsland, Texas
Climate
Sub-Tropical
No, not really...

To Huglekultur in a raised bed effectively you'd want about 18 inches in fill and then about another 12 inches for growing medium.

But, if that's the height you want it's still good to pack the base with sticks and organic matter up to about 6 inches and then fill the rest with growing medium - soil, compost, mulch etc. This will become a nice garden bed.
Thanks!
 

Robyn67

Active Member
Premium Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2017
Messages
45
Climate
Cold, Cool, Mountains, or Artic
Sherry, with the compost in the middle, does it ever start growing it's own vegetables from the scraps.

These beds look great to use for people like me who don't want to bend down,
 

Sherry Robitson

Texas Bluebonnets
Premium Member
GOLD
Joined
Oct 13, 2017
Messages
32
Location
Kingsland, Texas
Climate
Sub-Tropical
Sherry, with the compost in the middle, does it ever start growing it's own vegetables from the scraps.

These beds look great to use for people like me who don't want to bend down,
Sherry, with the compost in the middle, does it ever start growing it's own vegetables from the scraps.

These beds look great to use for people like me who don't want to bend down,
Yes, I am a senior citizen and the high beds help a lot.
 
Top Bottom