My first keyhole garden

Actually, it's only my second garden EVER... at 61 years old. And my second post on permies!

A little history. 2.5 years ago I bought 10.5 acres in N Florida and moved 5 hours from my home town in S Florida. I wanted room for my doggos to run and to homestead. The original reason was that my momma didn't want to move down south to live with me, because she didn't want to change the doctors she'd had for years. Momma died 3 weeks to the day before I closed on the property, she was 91, and it was actually unexpected. But alas, I pressed on.

I have a heart for folks that need a hand up, Lord knows I've needed it a few times through this life of ours, and about 8 months after moving onto the property, Jesse moved into the back corner in the area I call 'the bog'. It's got tons of oaks, and a boggy area. And he's still here. Works 10 hours a week doing stuff on the property for me in exchange for rent. I've had a few others come and go the past couple of years, and a couple that have stayed, all exchanging 10 hours of work on the property for a place to park. They have access to electricity and Jesse built an outdoor shower last summer. So right now I have Jesse, Bobby (a veteran) and Pam, a lovely lady in her late 70's with lots of experience in farming. I'm blessed!

This morning I fed everyone sausage biscuits, potatoes and coffee and showed them my drawing of what I wanted and we got started. It is NOT complete. It will have 3 layers of CBS block when done. I had enough block for 1.5 layers.
We cut and laid out weed barrier. Measured our 6' diameter circle and laid out the block. We then put in compostable cardboard and paper products, empty toilet paper and paper towel rolls (saved some for planting seedlings!) and newspaper and then saturated the entire area with water. With a few interruptions to spray the dogs (they are labs and doodles and LOVE water).

Then we secured the 18" in diameter compost basket that we created out of fencing wire and zip ties. When Jesse cut the wire, he left about 3" of spike on the end to push into the ground.

We then put down a combination of compost mulch that I had purchased last summer and rich, gorgeous compost soil from my compost bin, and saturated all of that. And then we started deconstructing some of the hügelkultur mound (we put that in Oct 2023) and put the large chunks in the keyhole garden. And that was it for the morning. I'll get more CBS block next week to finish it off and then continue adding large chunky stuff and compost to the top of the 2nd layer of block. The third layer will be all yummy soil from the hügelkultur garden and my compost pile. And then I'll plant. I'm not sure what I'll plant, but I'll plant!

Open to suggestions, as I'm a total newbie. Now that I'm a retired midwife, I can dig and not worry about a little bit of dirt under my nails!! Woot!

Pics below... added to pics of the wild fungi growing down by my hügelkultur bed.

Sandi

Hi Sandi,

First, I am so sorry for your unexpected loss.

Second, congratulations on your second post. Thanks for sharing the pictures, so that we can see the project steps.

What was your motivation in choosing a keyhole garden as opposed to other designs?

I think living in community and offering a work exchange for rent on your land is a wonderful idea. I've found as a woman, it can provide an element of safety that I wouldn't get living alone and great to have people help with projects that you need and wouldn't be able or want to do alone.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you plant.