Keyhole Gardens

8/7/2019 Keyhole Gardens

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Victory Gardens?

During both World Wars, theUnited States government askedits citizens to plant gardens inorder to support the war effort,with emphasis placed on makinggardening a family orcommunity effort -- not adrudgery, but a pastime, and anational duty.


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Victory Gardens!

In 1943, Americans

planted over 20 million

Victory Gardens, and the

harvest accounted fornearly a third of all the

vegetables consumed in

the country that year.


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Victory Gardens in Suburban

Landscapes

More and more Americans live in suburban

neighborhoods with greatly diminishing space

in which to plant a productive garden.


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Limited Space Gardening

The smaller the garden the greater should be

the space allotted to the green, leafy

vegetableshigh in many nutrients; the

yellow vegetableshigh in pro-Vitamin A; and

the high carriers of Vitamin Ctomatoes and

cabbage, chiefly.


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With climactic changes occurring around us,

skyrocketing transportation costs, and a

growing need to produce more food in less

space, is there anywhere we can turn to for

advice?


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Lesotho

Lesotho is a land-locked country near the

southern tip of the African continent.


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Lesotho

Covers 11,720 square miles,

entirely above 3,300 ft in elevation.


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The arable land area is about 12% of the total

area, however, this land is vulnerable due to

severe soil erosion. It is estimated that 40

million tons of soil per year is lost through

erosion .


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Compounded Problems

Lesotho is a small country where 18,000

people died from AIDS in 2007, and more than

20% of the population are HIV positive. The

country is also struggling to cope with 110,000

AIDS orphans. Crippling poverty combined

with AIDS in Lesotho has caused average life

expectancy to drop to 44 years for women and39 for men.


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With almost an entire generation dead or

dying, food production potential is decreased.

A technique for sustainable farming forschoolchildren was developed by a British not

for profit organization called Send a Cow.


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Send a Cow

The cow is symbolic of the community

becoming self sufficient. For example the cow

produces milk for the farmers, the manure

becomes fertilizer to grow vegetables. If the

cow has calves, these can be sold or used as

meat.

We too can become self sufficient once again.


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Send a Cows Contribution

Of the various techniques implemented by

Send a Cow in Lesotho, the

Keyhole Gardens applythe most to the average

American lifestyle .


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What is a Keyhole Garden?

Keyhole gardens are small, raised vegetable

beds with a circular structure about waist

high, with a small wedge cut out of one side.

This gives full access to all

plants in the garden.


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Keyhole Garden Construction

The basic concept of their keyhole garden is a

round, raised bed garden (about 3 1/2 feet

high), with one section left out to allow

gardeners easy access to all plants. The central

shaft of the garden is essentially a compost

pile and can be constructed with straw or long

grass, leaving an opening where gardeners canthrow any kitchen scraps and other compost.


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Keyhole Garden Maintenance

The central basket operates as the central

watering source as well as composting the

nutrient sources (garden waste). The use of

manure (nitrogen), wood ash (potassium),

rusty cans (iron), and straw or shredded

newspaper (carbon)to fill the garden negate

the need for fertilizer even with long term use.Also, earthworms are a necessity for a healthy

soil.


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Keyhole gardens may not

be appropriate for all

environments, due to thelarge amount of rock or

brick required to build.

Your garden is onlylimited to your

imagination.


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Send a Cow is teaching people how they can

sustainably grow their own vegetables in less

hospitable climates than our own. The

children now eat regular meals, are healthier,

and so are able to attend schools. The best

ideas seem to be the simplest, well thought

out, but brilliant none the less.


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Online Garden Tools

Sites like GardenRegistry.org arent available

in all areas, however they could easily be

recreated locally.

Documents

Keyhole Gardens