Now I know that last year wasn’t a ‘typical’ growing season. Most of the fruit and veg that would usually grow well in the garden struggled with wet weather, hoards of slugs and very little sunshine. So perhaps judging any gardening methods tried out for the first time in 2012 isn’t really fair. But I will anyway… last year I used the square foot gardening method for growing vegetables and herbs. The raised beds were hard work to build and fill, but great to work with once they were prepared. Maintenance was pretty easy, the veg that managed to escape the attentions of the local slugs grew, and weeding was minimal. There’s a round up of my (rambling) thoughts on square foot gardening here, so I won’t go on about it again now.
Another new idea I tried in the garden last year was the keyhole bed design that I found in The Essential Urban Farmer (a great book with lots of interesting ideas). Keyhole beds are formed of large circle with a path to a smaller central circle, as shown in the beautiful diagram below…
The idea is that the beds have more growing space and less path space than conventional beds. I’m not entirely convinced of this (or I’m going wrong somewhere), because they seem to need a lot of space around them for access. But I really like the shape – it’s a nice change from the usually straight lines of raised veg beds. I used sticks and string to measure out two keyhole beds in the garden last spring, and edged them with old bricks and large stones that I found lying around. Each bed was weeded well and had lots of home made compost added, before I started planting.
I started out sowing seeds following the circles of the keyhole bed, mainly because I’d read somewhere that this was the way to plant these beds. This probably works well for more permanent plantings, but wasn’t right for me, so I ended up planting the veg in ‘segments’ around the circle. This was a much better approach, and one I’ll be using again this year.
Has anyone else tried these keyhole beds? Any tips on how I can improve the way I use them this year? At the moment, I’m thinking that one bed will be for salads and herbs, the other for flowers. But all this could change, especially if you have some good suggestions…
The Garden Deli 
Can’t offer any real help, but it looks good! 🙂
Thanks! I should probably just stick with standard beds for veg, but I’m a sucker for shiny, new ideas.
The only thing I could see to do with a keyhole bed would be to possibly have two tiers to the design instead of one large circular bed. If the inner tier was also made of a brick retaining wall it could retain heat from the sun (if we get any of couse lol) which would benefit things like mediterranean herbs, etc. Hope you understand what I mean as I am completely rubbish at explaining things lol!!! 🙂
This is a great idea, and if I had the technical ability and enough bricks I would definitely do this! Might just suggest it to my husband though – he likes a project…
The beds look great! Lets hope for a better growing season this year. Did you buy in topsoil for your raised beds? my raised beds are in dire need of a top up and I’m trying to find topsoil suitable for growing veg in, do you have any tips?
Alex
The raised beds are in the garden of a local art centre and cafe – we filled them with a mixture of topsoil from other parts of the garden and compost. Maybe you could aski a local nursery if they know of a reliable source, or garden centres sometimes have special offers on bagged soil/manure mixes – sorry I can’t be more help.
Your raised beds look great. I am planning something similar for herbs – tiered beds to be part of the focus of a courtyard, eventually. It will be a year or two from now though as we plan to extend the front of the house first, and that’s where the courtyard is going. I haven’t tried the keyhole planting idea. You could try some companion planting with flowers to theoretically reduce pests and create aesthetic appeal? (Not that veg aren’t aesthetic, in my opinion!).
Now there’s a good idea – I could mix the veg and flowers instead of having them in separate beds. Your herb beds sound like they’ll be fabulous!
Both beds look really good. Very keen on the keyhole idea and I would be tempted with some companion planting too – maybe a circle of calendula around the edge or between some of the segments? But then I’d probably end up in a more chaotic state!
Fingers crossed we have a better growing year!
Oh yes, a spring and summer of sunny days and rainy nights would be just great… and an autumn too, if that’s not asking for too much!
I practice a version of square foot gardening on my beds…sometimes but mostly I just just stick things in whereever they might fit….I like the keyhole shape – I haven’t seen that before. I imagine it could look really attractive in the garden.
I like the shape of the keyhole beds too. Built properly they would look really good – mine are more ‘allotment chic’!
I have seen lots of pictures of keyhole beds on Pinterest but they were all built to waist height so you could walk in and reach all areas of planting without bending.
Yes, I’ve seen photos ranging from just marked out on the ground to the waist height beds. Given the extent of my building abilities, it’s probably safest for me to stick with a low to the ground design for now!
Geometry aside, it looks way better than the traditional ones. 🙂
Michael
It is a very pleasing shape – I like it a lot.
My husband and I built two 6′ keyholes and one 16’x6′ foot bed. The keyholes were made with 6″-12″ inch granite rocks from a local quarry (really cheap here in Georgia) and are about 3′ high. From what I have read, the “key” is to have a compost basket in the middle and to layer it with sticks, cardboard, newspaper, leaves, and a few inches of good soil on top.
The keyhole beds will have lettuces, spinach, onions, garlic, broccoli, peas, and beans. The long beds will have okra, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, summer squash, and melons. Cilantro, marigold, chives, basil, cilantro, and oregano will be mixed into all of the beds to help keep pest away. I am with you that the segments seem better in the keyholes than rows around the outside.
This weekend I planted the first batch of spinach and lettuce in one of the keyholes. Hoping for success after all of this hard work! Good luck to you! I will be watching to see how your garden grows.
-Rachel
Hi Rachel, thanks for leaving a comment. Your keyhole beds sound so much more organised than mine! And you have a great range of crops to grow in them too – the climate here isn’t reliably good enough for growing tomatoes, melons and peppers outdoors.
Any keyhole beds I have seen have been built up with a retaining wall. it would take a lot of soil and compost to fill one though. Friends of ours have one that uses the space in the centre as a compost bin. The idea being that the compost rots down and fertilises the bed.
My keyhole beds are more style than substance… and the style isn’t really that great once the weeds take a hold! After trying them for a couple of years I still have doubts over whether they really are an efficient use of space, so it may be straight lines and raised beds all the way next year.
This is the shape I used to grow garlic when I lived in Wisconsin and I grew the biggest garlic, I knew the shape had something to do with it! I dug out the keyhole part to make the raised bed all around, easy on the back too while growing and harvesting.
It’s a very pleasing shape to work with – raising the beds up would make working them even easier.