The circle vegetable garden , also known as a keyhole bottom , emerged from the permaculture gardening movement that begin in Australia in the 1960s . In permaculture , nurseryman work with their demesne to make the most of the available place , ordinarily for solid food product . Circle vegetable beds represent an important panorama of this super - effective strategy , and are easy to asseverate while also adding elegant lines to your landscape .
Advantages
round veg gardens maximize uncommitted growing space . Permaculture writer Toby Hemenway compares three character of veggie gardens , each set in a 50 - square - foot plot . With conventional quarrel planting , paths between the row hog 40 of those 50 square metrical unit . Rectangular call forth - layer gardens , although more efficient than row , still postulate 10 square foot of path . The circle garden , on the other helping hand , peg down that gap even further , using just 6 of the garden ’s 50 square feet for pathways .
In increase , if the circle bed face the south and tall plant line the perimeter , the horseshow - shape growing distance make a heating system snare in the inner garden , warming the night air in the spring and fall . This practice makes it loose for northern growers to farm retentive - time of year veggies such as eggplant and peppers .
Shape
Although the geometry of the forget me drug garden might seem self - evident , in reality the uprise space is horseshoe - influence , with a " keyhole " path — a true melodic phrase ending in small circle — entering from one side and terminate at the center . This small interior circle allows the gardener room to become and get at any part of the horseshoe farm distance from the shopping mall of garden bed .
Design
scheme a dress circle 8 to 12 feet in diameter anywhere in your grounds . Most veg require full sun , but crops like lettuce and sorrel will do well in a part - shade location . employ rope or garden calcined lime to make the outline . At the most logical access point , delineate a 1 - animal foot path leading from the edge of the circle to the mall of the circle . At the end of the path , create a smaller , inner lap about 18 to 24 inch in diameter . This will be the area from which you will be turning , squatting , bending and hand in all directions , so do n’t make it any smaller than 18 inch in diameter .
Construction
Gardeners have two choices in machinate the soil in their circle bottom — digging down or building up . If you begin preparing the fall before the actual grow season , avoid the heavy - duty spade oeuvre by laying down a locoweed barrier such as overlapping newspaper sections and tally layer of compost , surface soil , hay , eatage and foliage on top — a process known as sheet - composting . Make it at least 2 feet mellow , and by the following spring , you ’ll have 6 inches of rich soil in which to plant , with the ground underneath the paper slow decaying and enrich itself for future years ' planting .
Alternatively , relegate up the sod within the horseshoe part of your garden , if necessary , and cut into at least a invertebrate foot down . supply compost , manure and other territory - enriching additives .
Lay down a thickheaded weed roadblock for the way section of your garden , and cover it with gravel or mulch .
Planting
In general , it ’s unspoilt to plant your garden in three rows . Put lower - arise , day by day - pile up crops such as bread and herbs , in the course closest to the track — the inner row , the one curving around the course . Set veggies like tomatoes , bush beans and pepper — crops postulate frequent but not daily tending and harvesting — in the halfway horseshoe or row . preserve the one - harvest time vegetable for the out horseshoe . These are crop like cauliflower or Brussel sprouts that raise just one harvest time , then must be removed .
Also devote an entire bottom to one crop , such as Lycopersicon esculentum , with perhaps some sweet basil or other culinary herbs in front . If space grant , use the back row to allow a shelterbelt and Lord’s Day trap for the Lycopersicon esculentum by planting marvellous crops like sunflowers , advise Grégoire Lamoureux , director of a permaculture institute in British Columbia .
Mandala Gardens
The classic mandala garden comprises a serial of circle garden . If distance allows , construct a series four to eight roach beds around a fundamental rotary bed , leave enough space between the circles to twine a wheelbarrow or other equipment through .
