Keyhole Garden 4022 Naaman School Road - The Garland Community Garden

Leon Smith, proprietor of Keyhole Farm, generously donated one of his lovely keyhole garden kits to Loving Garland Green.  You can now see it at 4022 Naaman School Road--location of the Garland Community Garden.

Margie and Gene Rodgers and Jean Shortsleeves looking out from the bottom of the assembled Keyhole garden

On Friday, May 2,  Gene and Margie Rodgers along with Jean Shortsleeves and I assembled the supporting structure and walls for the keyhole garden.  On Saturday, Gene and Margie brought it over to the park and  there we built the soil. Many Loving Garland Green members stopped by to assist as it takes a while to build up the soil--(wet cardboard, leaves, grass clippings,vegetable scraps, compost and garden soil).  We began at 1PM and concluded at about 6 PM. Mayor Doug Athas took time out from his busy day to stop by for a while with his son.

It will be interesting to see if the plants grow as fast as the ones in Leon's keyhole garden.  Below is a photo of one of Leon's plant sheets.  The photo was taken on April 25. Look at the size of the plants in this bed after only 3 weeks from seed.  

Stop by and see it for yourself as the keyhole garden format is unique.  It has a feeding basket in the center of the bed. The basket extends down to the bottom on the bed and sticks out several inches over the top of the soil. Gardeners put wet cardboard and vegetable scraps into the basket. Once the plants are established, the gardener waters the feeding basket and not the bed itself (except during the heat of the summer).  The roots of the plants seek out the nourishment and moisture of the feeding basket which also acts as a watering system.