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  • Keyhole gardens

    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?
    My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
    to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

    Diversify & prosper



  • #2
    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.

    Some of us live in the past, always talking about back then. Some of us live in the future, always planning what we are going to do. And, then there are those, who neither look behind or ahead, but just enjoy the moment of right now.

    Which one are you and is it how you want to be?

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    • #3
      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

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      • #4
        Actually VC, that would be quite "Do-able" and very ornamental that would look too!
        "Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad"

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        • #5
          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?
          Last edited by vixylix; 11-08-2016, 04:21 PM.

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          • #6
            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.
            "Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad"

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            • #7
              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?
              http://goneplotterin.blogspot.co.uk/

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              • #8
                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!
                "Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad"

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                • #9
                  Oh!!!!...never heard of them...but they look really nice!
                  One of those would look lovely in our field/ garden ..hmmm.....
                  "Nicos, Queen of Gooooogle" and... GYO's own Miss Marple

                  Location....Normandy France

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by veggiechicken View Post
                    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!
                    My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
                    to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

                    Diversify & prosper


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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by veggiechicken View Post
                      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!

                      Attached Files
                      My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
                      to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

                      Diversify & prosper


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                      • #12
                        That's it exactly, Snadge, although without the central keyhole

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                        • #13
                          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!
                          Last edited by Ryez; 11-08-2016, 07:16 PM. Reason: typo

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                          • #14
                            You could turn the central tower into a wormery.

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

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                            • #15
                              The central four foot circle will be part of path in my plan with a 2 foot straight path creating the keyhole!
                              My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
                              to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

                              Diversify & prosper


                              Comment

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