It
seems I am a little behind the times here as I haven’t posted since
February 21st. Maybe it is because we haven’t gone
anywhere since then but have just been doing things around the house.
I
did have one project that intrigued me and that was to build a
“Keyhole Garden” after talking to son Tim about the one he was
working on. Some Google research told me a lot about them and it soon
became apparent that a true 6 foot diameter keyhole garden required a
lot of compostable material, something in short supply right now in
my garden. The name drives from the slot shaped much as a piece of
pie removed from the circle which allows access to a wire cage in the
middle to add compost material and to harvest vegetables.
However,
I did have enough material for a 3 foot diameter keyhole garden,
minus the keyhole (keyhole not needed for a 3 foot diameter circle),
which would go nicely in a spot from which we had removed a very
thorny cactus, think big pointy spikes.
Keyhole
gardens originated in England and are used in some African countries
which had little good soil. They basically are used to grow
vegetables. A well known authority is Dr Deb Tolman of Texas who
teaches classes in building Keyhole gardens. Her videos are available
on YouTube.
I
had a supply of bricks available so that became my material for
making the walls. First I drew a circle and then I first dug down to
increase the depth of the keyhole and also to level the spot. I next
laid the bricks 5 layers high. I cut and fit chicken wire in the
bottom to discourage rodents and a certain snoopy dog, (Craig’s).
I
then wet large sheets of cardboard and fitted them into the circle
including up the sides. I built a chicken wire cage about 8-9 inches
in diameter and tall enough to reach above the expected top of the
soil. I inserted a tin can in the top of the cage with a lid on it
again to keep pests out. This cage will be filled with kitchen
garbage and shredded paper and watered well each time it is filled.
The hope is that the water will wash nutrients from the kitchen
vegetables down into the soil and the surrounding plants will send
their roots deep to get moisture thereby needing less water.
I
added rough compostable materials such as old tin cans and rough wood
cuttings. All of these will break down over time and supply nutrients
to the soil.
Next
was several layers of wet newspapers and newspaper type magazines.
On
top of this was added brown leafy cuttings and branches, shredded
waste paper, kitchen garbage, green leafy material, and finished
compost. Each layer was wet down with a hose. A top layer of about
6-8 inches of good garden soil was used to finish of the garden. The
soil was sloped to be high near the center so rainwater will drain
off.
So
what has been the results of this experiment? So far, I have 3 of the
wire cages in use, 1 in the Keyhole garden and one each next to 2
rose bushes. The 3 of them use up most of the compostable kitchen
garbage we generate. I plan to add 3 or 4 more cages in my garden
when I plant my tomatoes, zucchini, and squash. The hope is that we
will generate more kitchen garbage in the summer time.
I don't know why I have larger text in one paragraph as it is the same text height in my original copy. Leave it to Blogger to change something. Always an adventure!
