Keyhole Gardening

The key to gardening in hot, dry climates, is actually a keyhole…

If you live in a hot, dry climate and you haven’t heard about keyhole gardening yet, you need to keep reading!

From a bird’s eye view, a keyhole garden is round with a notch cut into it (think a pizza with one slice gone, or PacMan).

The Purpose of Your Keyhole Garden

At the centre is an active compost basket, where you can continually add biodegradable material, such as vegetable peelings. Around the circle is a built up wall. The soil is higher at the centre – around the compost basket – and slopes downward towards the wall.

Keyhole gardens are growing in popularity, because they are more drought resistant and because they are so contained, are easier to look after. Also, because the garden is built up, it means that there is less bending required to tend the garden.

Get Started With Keyhole Gardening

One of the easiest ways to build a keyhole garden is to start with building your wall. Once that’s in, install your compost basket. This can be a fairly simple construct; some stakes and chicken wire will do the job nicely. Just remember that it needs to extend beyond the top of the wall.

Then, line the bottom of the garden with wet newspaper or cardboard, add in a layer of compost, sticks, leaves, etc. and top it off with a layer of Black Garden Soil. We recommend BigYellowBag Black Garden Soil to get the best results. It’s already loaded with nutrients and it is sure to get your plants started off on the right foot.

Finally, put in your plants and be amazed at how healthy and hearty they grow!

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has an interesting little write-up in support of keyhole gardening! Check that out here.