Keyhole Garden

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Keyhole Garden

December 1, 2011 by Gene Ellis

And so it begins. . . . . .

A few years ago, Deb Tolman, Ph.D. (Dr. Deb) arrived in our area. She began sharing her approach to sustainable landscaping, living, education and building practices. Dr. Deb leads a garden club that charges no dues, hosts field trips to places of interest, offers workshops for great projects, helps keep alive a farmer’s market, and encourages folks in general. She’s also an expert on worms. Not your typical gal next door. Since Deb introduced the concept to the area, there have sprung up over the last three years about sixty keyhole gardens. A workshop produced the example at our local Ace Hardware store. Last summer during the drought, few conventional gardens in the area could survive much less thrive. Most of us couldn’t afford to water daily; and city or community water with chlorine isn’t so well tolerated on regular basis anyway. Not everyone had access to well water, and there was some fear that might become scarce also. At the point it seemed we might run out of water for humans, it seemed frivolous to irrigate failing gardens. Most of us sadly gave up after months of work and no little expense. It was too oppressive to work the gardens by mid to late summer anyway. The heat and dryness wore us down. The only gardens going strong were the keyhole gardens. These are raised beds of a six foot interior circumference, built from things like cedar staves, brick,

Zack mortaring our rocks

concrete or rock. They are mortared or not, as required. The walls are two feet high to discourage local armadillos and cottontails. (We built ours in Stinky’s backyard to protect it from deer and raccoons. MOST of them will stay away from even an aging, overweight, night-blind, hearing-impaired blue heeler). At one point in the six foot circumference of the garden, there is incorporated a “keyhole” cutout. This allows the gardener to step into the circle to “feed” an interior basket for composting. The layers of filling, similar to those of a lasagna garden, will eventually become soil. You may Google both lasagna and keyhole gardens for images from all over the world and more information than you’ll ever need. Deb has a useful video on keyhole gardens as well, and a website: www.debtolman.com This raised garden has no floor other than the ground and is filled with (thin) layers upon layers of “brown” items such as water-soaked cardboard, newspaper, shredded junk mail, aged manure, brown leaves, phone books, programs, even cotton or wool clothing. There are three parts “brown” to one part “green” like fresher manure, grass and plant clippings, coffee grounds, and compost items. We’re planning to use a few horse apples toward the bottom of ours. The interior sides are lined with cardboard. The central basket (cylinder) of wire is created and installed after the first layer of cardboard and rises a foot above the garden wall. Composting and watering will occur in the basket. You throw all the good stuff in the basket, job it down/mix with a length of rebar. A little manure will disguise any odors that might offend human noses or entice canines or raccoons. Deer and cattle, being vegetarians, are deterred by stinky smells. Nutrients and water will eventually emanate from the central basket. The whole garden is kept wet and damp in the beginning while the “cooking” ensues in the layers below, and rain will water all. It should take only a month or two before all those layers become rich soil. Any natural non-protein substances may be added when making the garden. Deb even used an old feather duvet once. But you won’t find me wasting down on my garden unless it’s beyond salvage. Everything is topped off with a relatively thin layer of topsoil. Wadded newspaper can be used later as mulch under plants. We only spent money for mortar and topsoil. The day you lay your first soaked cardboard on the ground, all manner of creepy crawlers come up from the ground to munch. And that’s the whole idea. You invite rolly-pollies and worms into the structure to do the aerating for you. They need to feed off the carbon. We used rocks from the ranch here and a few from a neighbor’s place, learned a bit about mortaring. It was hard work, and with rocks, a challenging, creative puzzle. We’re filling the keyhole garden now, and you can’t imagine how much material is necessary. We hope to plant onions and garlic within the week! Wish us luck!