Keyhole Garden Update – Sept. 21, 2020
It's day 548 of production for the keyhole garden. The recent heatwave ended what was left of the tomatoes and most of the sweet peppers, but the squash is doing great. Plus, I discovered some garlic.
It's day 548 of production for the keyhole garden. The recent heatwave ended what was left of the tomatoes and most of the sweet peppers, but the squash is doing great. Plus, I discovered some garlic.
It's official. I've completely lost control of the keyhole garden.
Cool weather has turned it into a nutrient rich kitchen garden like no other! It's hard to overstate how awesome a keyhole garden is. If you’ve ever thought about building one, do it. I built one on a whim for about $100 early last spring and was amazed at how it pumped out vegetables and herbs from spring all the way into mid-autumn with basically no effort from me -- no weeding, very little watering, easy harvesting. Definitely $100 well [keep reading...]
A Pacific storm rolled in giving us about 2 inches of rain and considerably colder temperatures. Our mountains got snow, we got frost, but the keyhole garden doesn't seem to notice. The lettuces and Chinese cabbage are really leafing out and the broccoli and red cabbage are getting tall. Even the cilantro, which is kind of picky about too hot or too cold, is growing well.
No rain but close to freezing temperatures has the broccoli confused about what to do. Fortunately, the lettuce (front left) has no such problem.
Another 3" of rain and continued cool weather this week, but the keyhole garden continues to thrive. The broccoli (rear of the garden) is doing well, the romaine lettuce (right side) is doubling each week. We were even able to harvest some cilantro yesterday for enchiladas the mrs. is making.
Second week of the keyhole garden's winter plantings. We had 3 inches of occasionally heavy rains which could have easily pounded the young herbs and vegetables into the mud. Instead, the garden absorbed the water and drained it away beautifully. Even though it's cool and cloudy, the plants are doing beautifully.
Second week of the winter plantings in the keyhole garden. Needed to water once, but otherwise everything is doing well.