What is the purpose of a keyhole garden?
Keyhole gardening creates an ideal growing environment for fruits and vegetables in areas with less-than-ideal soil. A raised garden bed allows you to control the growing environment, and incorporating compost gives your soil a boost of essential nutrients to promote healthy plant growth. Keyhole Gardening has (re)gained popularity. It originated in Africa out of necessity. Creating an organic recycling tank in the center of a garden to help grow vegetables in dry, rocky soils.A keyhole garden is a raised garden bed built from organic materials layered in a circle between six and eight feet wide. In the center of the circle, a composting well funnels nutrients from food waste into the nearby soil. Plant roots take up these nutrients and reward you with lush growth and an abundant harvest.Garden pros love it because it makes efficient use of space and, once built, is easy to maintain. A keyhole garden also saves time and labor as compared to traditional vegetable gardening, because it has a built-in feature that releases nutrients into the soil every time you water the garden.The garden, shaped like a keyhole from above, encompasses a circular raised bed with a central basket where compostable waste is placed along with used water from the kitchen. These gardens give fantastic results quickly and add nutritious vegetables to provide a balanced diet.Keyhole gardening is a simple concept but can yield powerful results. It involves setting up a compost bin in a carved-out area near the center of a raised garden bed to allow nutrient-dense compost to infiltrate the soil.
Where did the keyhole garden come from?
The idea of keyhole gardens originated in Africa out of necessity. They enable families to produce food on dry, exposed and rocky soils – essentially land that is infertile. The gardens are shaped like a keyhole and act like an organic recycling tank using food and garden waste as fuel to grow vegetables. A traditional keyhole garden is a raised circular garden bed with a wedge-shaped cutout along one side that gives easy-access to a compost area in the middle and growing areas on all sides. This central composting section works as a self-fertilising element for the plants, keeping the soil naturally replenished.A keyhole garden lacks the surface area to achieve the same results as a massive hügelkultur mound, but the concept does reduce the need for additional watering. Because the native soil at my Great Falls home is claylike, I used a combination of potting soil, compost, and manure to create a soil mixture.A traditional keyhole garden is a raised circular garden bed with a wedge-shaped cutout along one side that gives easy-access to a compost area in the middle and growing areas on all sides. This central composting section works as a self-fertilising element for the plants, keeping the soil naturally replenished.
How big is a keyhole garden?
Keyhole gardens are approximately 6 feet in diameter. The keyhole indentation allows easy access to a compost collection basket in the center of the circle. The idea of keyhole gardens originated in Africa out of necessity. They enable families to produce food on dry, exposed and rocky soils – essentially land that is infertile.
What is an African keyhole garden?
A keyhole garden is a two-meter-wide circular raised garden with a keyhole-shaped indentation on one side. The indentation allows gardeners to add uncooked vegetable scraps, greywater, and manure into a composting basket that sits in the center of the bed. American English (ˈkiˌhoul) noun.Keyhole: buy a purpose-made cover that drops a metal disc over the keyhole. Letterbox: use a letterbox flap or brush but remember to measure your letterbox before you buy to make sure it fits! Gap at the bottom: use a brush or hinged flap draught excluder.