Keyhole gardens

[Snadger]

Just because I'm bored with the other methods of veg growing I've used in the past, (there's been quite a few) and partly because once my spuds are harvested I will have a blank canvas to work on, I fancy multiple keyhole gardens on my new allotment plot.
Have any grapes adopted this method of growing and if so any chance of any piccies of your plot or garden?
Yes I know there is loads of info on the net but I would like to hear from someone with first hand knowledge.
It must have an ornamental element as well as I will be sitting in my summerhouse watching stuff grow.

So what i'm basically after is an ornamental multiple keyhole kitchen garden type allotment, based on permaculture principals on the edge of a wooded dene.!

Is there such an animal?

[Alison]

Sorry, don't even know what a keyhole garden is so can't help at all . Is this just me or is anybody else unfamiliar with the terminology? I do like kitchen garden type things though.

[veggiechicken]

What about a circle in the middle ?paved with pond, with keyhole gardens running off it like petals on a flower. Each keyhole accessed from the centre?
No piccies, I'm making this up as I go along

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

Actually VC, that would be quite "Do-able" and very ornamental that would look too!

[vixylix]

ok I like them, they look pretty... but what is the difference between that and a raised bed? Is it literally just the shape? Are there any advantages?

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

Vix! They were developed in Africa to help them overcome the "Rainy Season" or "Monsoon as they call it! as everything at ground level just got swamped!

Very simalar to a raised bed, but the central collar/tube where all the garden scraps are thrown in and watered acting as a compost heap, leaching the nutrients into the surrounding soil, thus feeding the plants.

[muddled]

no pics I'm afraid but I do like keyhole gardens.

The raised ones that I've been reading about are interesting.
The round part of the keyhole has a rock core through which water and comfrey tea can be applied, thereby going straight to the roots.
I wouldn't, personally, build a raised bed as high as suggested for one of these....seems like an awful lot of work....but I have quite a high mounded area at the back of my garden and I'm considering inserting a couple of keyholes into it.

Are you thinking of individual beds or more of a 'leaf vein' design across the whole area?

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

Just for interests sake!

Send a Cow | African Gardens in the UK | Keyhole Gardens | Bag Gardens | Tip Taps

Posted the whole site, as I feel it makes interesting reading! .............But then again to others!........

Time for the sack!

[Nicos]

Oh!!!!...never heard of them...but they look really nice!
One of those would look lovely in our field/ garden ..hmmm.....

[Snadger]

What about a circle in the middle ?paved with pond, with keyhole gardens running off it like petals on a flower. Each keyhole accessed from the centre?
No piccies, I'm making this up as I go along

Great minds. Similar to what i was thinking but the pond would be an added bonus.

Unlike the African model I was thinking of beds with a sunken keyhole with a circle 4 foot diameter and a 2 foot wide path making up the keyhole.. This theoretically would allow me to garden 2 foot from every path area making each bed 8 foot diameter.The top soil dug out from the keyhole (roughly a spades depth would be added to the beds and rounded off.Straw is going to find its way into the equation along with twigs methinks!

Because my allotment is roughly triangular I would need to bisect each straight section to give me a roughly central point then just work out from there.

Come to think of it a triangular pond in the centre would make it work better but would look a bit too contrived.

I've got as feeling the pan tiles from my other plot will be coming with me!

[Snadger]

What about a circle in the middle ?paved with pond, with keyhole gardens running off it like petals on a flower. Each keyhole accessed from the centre?
No piccies, I'm making this up as I go along

Like this you mean!

[veggiechicken]

That's it exactly, Snadge, although without the central keyhole

[Ryez]

I thought I've seen it somewhere, July 2016 GYO magazine, page 62-63, article with photos on how to build raised keyhole beds. Not sure how keen I would be in having my compost pile in the middle of my beds, there would be creatures in there!

[veggiechicken]

You could turn the central tower into a wormery.

Creatures are Nice, Ryez, repeat after me...............
Creatures are Nice;
Creatures are Nice.................

[Snadger]

The central four foot circle will be part of path in my plan with a 2 foot straight path creating the keyhole!