A keyhole garden is a round raised garden bed about 6-10′ in diameter and up to 3′ high. An opening shaped like a pie slice is cut out of one side so that the gardener can walk into the space without stepping into the garden and have access to tend the entire bed. A round, 1-2′ in diameter wire cylinder forms a compost basket in the center. The basket is filled with compost ingredients and watered throughout the growing season making the best use of water and fertilizer on-site. The garden bed is usually lined with cardboard and filled with compostable materials including cardboard, newspaper, soil, food scraps, phone books, compost, coffee grounds even old cotton clothes. Top with soil and mound it higher in the center and lower toward the outer edge. This allows for more planting space and easier access to the planting area. The mynjgarden.com keyhole garden is also a Hugulkultur bed as more than 6 large 5 year old tree stumps are buried inside.
Keyhole gardens are being used in Africa to teach self sufficiency to native people who have to deal with lack of rain and poor soil. This front yard was covered in landscape stone a short time ago, then covered again with poor clay subsoil and tightly compacted by heavy construction machinery. This space also enjoys the best, full sun, exposure on my lot. The keyhole is a great solution and allows me to densely plant the area without having to deal with, or struggle to improve, the native soil!
Originally written for and published in the Winter 2022 Master Naturalist Newsletter for Ocean County, NJ Master Naturalists. When it comes to gardening for wildlife and being good stewards of the land, we generally advise those who will listen, to “leave the leaves”. Leaves are a wonderful natural mulch, decompose into a rich food source … Read more
It’s been a mild winter in 2017 in New Jersey. February felt like it had more 60 degree days than it didn’t. The loose, opening buds on my fruit trees are giving me some anxiety because the temperature has dropped to seasonably reasonable lows this week. But as the ground thaws and we get closer … Read more
It’s been weeks since it’s rained here! I can’t believe how often I’ve needed to use the sprinklers since I’ve planted my seeds in the veggie gardens in the back yard. The grass seed is coming up beautifully and I’ve already seeded over what I initially put down. I’m keeping track of what I planted … Read more
For the colors, the cleanup and the fallback, regroup that comes with moving stuff around, planting new things and planning for next year. I’m enjoying the tomatoes coming in from the yard and am frustrated by the puny growth on my brassicas which may be due to the heat or not enough fertility. I haven’t … Read more
The elderberries are almost ripe! These bushes are right near the street in the front yard, so they aren’t netted at all. I’m keeping a close eye on them so I might get some before the birds do. Those sunchokes, or Jerusalem artichokes, on the right, are pretty tall now. I don’t even see one … Read more
I’ve never eaten it before, let alone tried to grow it, but this year Kohlrabi is making an appearance in the keyhole garden. I planted it in early spring from seed. It survived the early attack of the cabbage moths that took out my whole crop of mustard greens and seems to have been staying … Read more
In the beginning of the season I tried something I read online. If you take some store bought celery and cut off all the stalks and leave about 2” at the base, you can soak the base in water for a couple of days and then plant it and it will regrow. I did this … Read more
I didn’t think any of the squash or cucumbers had a chance of coming through and bearing fruit this year with the zillions of cucumber beetles and squash bugs I saw earlier in the season, but these plants are troopers! Now that the hot weather has hit, shade or full sun, they are bursting forth … Read more