Keyhole Garden

[alabaster]

My wife and I have talked year after year about starting a proper garden. We've grown tomatoes, peppers, and some other veggies & herbs, but we're talking about growing an actual yield. I stumbled upon this article and was wondering if anyone has ever tried this or something similar, even a raised garden. I'm thinking about building this during the off season, possible with bricks and then seeing what we can come up with for next year.

http://www.realfarmacy.com/coolest-raised-bed-keyhole/

 

[jimLE]

i've seen raised flower beds and gardens alike.and they seem to work real good,when they're done up right..i had a very small raised garden once.in which i only planted tomato and jalapeno in.it worked great once i had it done up right..

 

[Gazrok]

Not sure how they call this cheap. Those bricks cost about a buck each at a home store, and that can add up REAL quick. In most of the examples they showed, the amount of bricks would cost about $60 or more, assuming the cost of cheap stones at $1 each.

Maybe that's cheap to some folks, but I can just as easily use some old fence posts laid down to plot out garden plots.

I love the idea of raised beds, but just can't justify the cost over a traditional garden.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Not sure how they call this cheap. Those bricks cost about a buck each at a home store, and that can add up REAL quick. In most of the examples they showed, the amount of bricks would cost about $60 or more, assuming the cost of cheap stones at $1 each.

Maybe that's cheap to some folks, but I can just as easily use some old fence posts laid down to plot out garden plots.

I love the idea of raised beds, but just can't justify the cost over a traditional garden.

My wife wants to build some raised beds in the garden on our new place too. Fortunately we have an area with lots of rocks. I have a feeling that I'll be building a lot of things with rocks! I'm all about saving money whenever possible.

 

[Dani]

It looks like a great concept, but for me, I will stick with my traditional raised beds in the garden using the square foot method. They look nice for sure, but in order to raise the amount of food my family needs every year it would not be very economical.

 

[Brent S]

I agree with work with the rocks you allready have. When you spend more on the setup than it costs to buy the produce it just dosent make sense. On the flip side though, I see people spend loads of money on decorative landscaping. Some nice planting containers are at least productive, and if thought out could look great. I built a greenhouse only because I got the materials really cheap. I see ads for 5k plus for kits. That's going to make the cost of each tomatoe pretty high! People get interested in hobbies and waste tons of money all the time. At least this is a healthy hobbie.

 

[Brent S]

My wife wants to build some raised beds in the garden on our new place too. Fortunately we have an area with lots of rocks. I have a feeling that I'll be building a lot of things with rocks! I'm all about saving money whenever possible.

One thing about raised beds, they tend to need more water than traditional gardens. So out west this might not be a good idea.

 

[Gazrok]

Good point on the raised beds needing more water (and cost vs. cost of produce).

Initially, I'll be spending a bit on my garden as a) I need to get a little bit of fencing, b) I'm not starting from seed, but small plants instead, first time out, and c) still some things I need to get such as hoses and another rain barrell (and gutter). (going to filter the water running off the garage roof and have it as a sustainable watering system for the garden).

 

[Dani]

Gaz, if the seed is small such as tomatoes or peppers then start out with a plant first time out, but for melons, corn, beans, squash, etc. start with seed. Keep in mind, the bigger the seed the easier it is to grow. It will still save you money down the road cause a seed that has sprouted in the soil you have is better than having transplant shock and having to baby.