Getting Ready to Garden

It’s not even close to spring yet here but I’ve got a few seeds in the dirt already. Some things will even be mature enough to eat before it’s time to put stuff outside but there’s nothing wrong with a little indoor gardening.

Something I’m excited to try is keyhole gardening. While water isn’t really an issue here like most places that are touting keyhole gardens, getting good nourishment is.

Picture from HERE

Here are a few reasons keyhole gardening interests me:

• We already have a LARGE composting site but now that we have a push mower there are no grass clippings going in which was a large portion of our compost. I think the smaller compost area that leaks right into the garden sounds like a wonderful way to get the nutrients strait to where it’s needed without the extra work and extra space.
• I have wanted a real raised bed since we moved here. The ground is very rocky making it hard to plant just about anything directly into it. We have plenty of good dirt thanks to our current compost pile and the wood chips that have pretty much turned themselves into mud under the swing sets. There will also be the chicken littler and the dead green stuff from last year that can all go into the garden.
• I’m really over the tires. Even at two tires high they are too short for this wonderfully tall Alaskan grass. Not to mention that because they are on a slanted hill they have started sliding off the bottom ones. If I was to do it again I would put a stake or something in the back to prevent sliding. The ones around the edge of the yard that are level are fine. Those I will keep for the bleeding hearts. I might consider modifying the idea of the key hole into just a circle with compost in the center if I found two big thick tractor tires to make the raised bed out of.
• The green house factor. I think the circle shape and the general dimensions would make an area easy to make into a green house. I could run pvc poles around the edges and across the top and then cover that in plastic sheeting making a dome. The raised bed would thaw quicker than the ground and with the sheeting I could be planting weeks earlier than usual! It sounds easy enough in theory anyway.
• If I make a netting the same way as I do the sheeting my garden might actually stand a chance with the chickens around!

Of course I’m not going to dump a bunch of money into this project, especially since what I have works just fine. We will probably reuse the fencing around our compost now and maybe even the tires? If we buy anything for this it will probably come from Habitat for Humanity.

Do any of you use keyhole gardening? Any thoughts? Tips?