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Keyhole beds are like big fat pies with a slice taken out to reach the "cherry" in the centre. The outer "crusty edge" is made of stones/bricks/wood/anything to retain the soil/pie filling which mounds up to the "cherry" which is filled with compost and watered. The idea is that the liquid compost feed leaches out into the surrounding pie filling
That's a lot of work for a lazy gardener like me so I'm going to try a simple version. I have lots of blue barrels and water butts that have been cut in half to make rings. These have been used to grow spuds and courgettes in but they're not needed this year. My plan is to put one of these rings on each bed, maybe sunk into the soil a bit. Put cardboard in the bottom to keep the weeds from growing and then chuck the dead stuff/prunings from the bed into the ring. Add comfrey leaves, chicken muck etc and let it compost in situ.
When the bins are full, I'll either plant a courgette in there or move the bin to another position and start again, leaving the heap of compost behind to improve the soil.
Don't worry about Mr Greedy Hotbin. I rarely bring compost material from the garden for him, he's fed by GH and kitchen waste, so he won't be starved by this cunning plan.
What do you think? Have you done something similar, Vinny maybe?
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