Keyhole Garden Update

It’s been a while since I had an update on the keyhole garden, which, despite the brutal heat continues to produce. (It’s been in continual production for 521 days now.)

All the plants from spring — garlic, cucumber, peppers, yellow pear tomatoes, tomatillos, basil and lettuce — have petered out and are in need of removal. The “volunteers”, a Valentine grape tomato (that giant thing on the right in the photo above), and a sweet potato (the vine on the ground on the left), while not actually “in” the keyhole garden, are taking advantage of the nutrient rich soil that oozes out of the bottom, so it’s kind of messy up front.

Around the back of the garden is a different story. Back late July, after the tomatillos were done, I yanked them and planted a bushy summer squash, black beans and a small pie pumpkin. They’re all doing pretty well.

Back of the The keyhole garden on August 24, 2020

This week I’ll pull the rest of the frying peppers out, mix in some compost from the bin in the middle, and let it sit for a couple weeks before I transition it over to the late summer / early fall veggies, which includes basil, broccoli, lettuces and some small sweet peppers that like the heat, but also don’t mind the shorter days.