The keyhole garden beds are really intriguing. This year in the garden, I need to make a compost bin and a new inground bed, and it would be great if I could do both while also getting water deep to the roots (always a concern of mine).
Do you know if I could "age" bokashi in there while the plants are growing? That's how we're handling our kitchen scraps right now, and this would be much easier than digging trenches for that stage. Would it be too acidic?
Good question Tanith - I bokashi all my kitchen waste too - when the bokashi bin is full I leave it 2 or 3 weeks and then empty in the compost bin. I would imagine you could add to the keyhole bin at that stage - should be fermented enough to put off vermin. Not sure how acidic the resulting compost might be given its a smaller volume than a standard compost bin - I suspect its a bit trial and error.
Thanks Sally. Maybe if I mix it with leaves as well as some soil? Or just stick with adding bokashi before and after growing. I’m going to look more into setting up keyhole gardens.
Thanks Sally. Do you have any good resources on keyhole composting gardens, especially about the science of how it works? I've been obsessing over this all weekend, watching videos, reading forum posts, and journal articles. But no one seems to know how it differs from a hugulkutr bed, besides adding an extra feature. Or just straight up saying it wouldn't work. I suspect that it works by capillary action -- taking water and soluble nutrients from the compost bin to the rest of the soil. My husband is also really interested in trying this, but I want to make sure that any design changes we need to make work with the science (especially the only needing 2L of greywater a week), and not against it.
The key hole gardens are a nice twist on Hügelkultur. I notice that there are more 'in ground' wormeries on the market recently, too - although, like all these things, hard to know how well they work or how practical they are to manage, until you put one into practice (and I haven't yet - largely because most of my growing is done on concrete!).
Yes saw them too - you have probably had the same marketing emails. With worms, you want the compost whereas an in-ground one means you can't access it so easily or not at all. I saw a lovely terracotta composter in a balcony garden at RHS Chelsea last year - looks like a rhubarb forcer https://tomiescuisine.co.uk/terracotta-food-compost/ - suit one of your larger containers !
I haven't noticed more of those in ground wormeries for sale, I need to look into them. I've had a thriving indoor wormery for a number of years now, the colony is well established so I could split it and experiment outdoors.
Yes on wiggly wigglers and there was an even more fancy (and interestingly designed - and pricy) one made by another company but they have closed their uk operation I think. I guess there might be benefits of having one in the ground in terms of microbial life and temperature control - but the practicality (and weight!) of using and moving one and harvesting the compost are less clear to me. I’m happy to be persuaded though!
I've had a look at them and it made me wonder if a chimney pot with a makeshift cover might be a cheaper alternative. It doesn't have the numerous holes in it like the fancy ones for sale but it might still work. I will experiment with it come spring.
A chimney pot or rhubarb forcer over a hole in the ground but can't see how you confine the worms but would work as in ground composter - I think I'll be experimenting too!
No I wouldn't want to confine the worms, they would be free to come and go just as with a shop bought inground worm composter. I will definitely think about experimenting with it if I can bring myself to making my lovely chimney pot mucky like that.
Thank you for sharing the key take away points from this conference, so many easy and useful practices we can all adapt. I had a little chuckle when I read about free ranging guinea pigs on the farm in Peru as I recently wrote a post about guinea pigs and how useful I find them for the garden.
In terms of the roses I only grow one climbing type and that the Generous Gardener. I do grow lots of other roses though, mostly shrub and one rambler. I'm probably not going to be a very good case study for your research as I stopped having any problems with my roses once my garden established itself and developed a lot of biodiversity. I find that when roses are not stressed by too much sun or draught (I mulch everything religiously) and not exposed to any chemical sprays ( I don't use any chemicals in my garden, not even to fertilise) they are not stressed and therefore not as susceptible to disease, pests or climate fluctuations.
Thanks Katherine. Guinea pigs - slight difference in Peru - they are a popular meat. Roses - some useful observations there especially having a biodiverse garden - thank you!
It is so great to hear about all of these experiements/ different ways of growing around the world. Sharing this knowledge is so important to growers everywhere. I am very curious how these ideas will spread and where they will take hold by growers
I have some Red Aztec amaranthus seeds ready to sow this year, so I'm very interested to see what it is like as a crop here in the UK. Not really interested in seed production (although I may try to collect some). I have a rather windy garden, so I am thinking I will need to chop it regulary, or set up a support.
Like Katherine, I have lots of roses but mostly shrubby ones. About 2 years ago put in two new climbing ones on the arch to veg area. They did not seem to mind the weather at all (which was v nice as I had a lovely view on days with miserable weather!). But it was a more modern variety chosen specifically for disease resistace and early repeat blooming, so maybe the rose variety chosen is also important. I replaced the previous roses as they had too much black spot and flowered less than I wanted. I did see a bit of black spot on these new ones but you had top search for it and the conditions were not great. So I counted it as winner and so did the bees. Oh, and I am in East Anglia in the UK, so a fen garden.
Thanks Lisa - these simple ideas are important as everybody can implement without too much in the way of materials. Be interesting to see how your Amaranthus performs in your windy garden.. And thanks too for the feedback on your roses - one of the advantages of being windy is that is reduces the humidity craved by fungi but on the other hand, it brings in spores,...
Hi Sally. I have 12 climbing roses on my allotment, all grown on arched frames. They’re mostly from David Austin, but there are a couple of Peter Beales’ and a Trevor White. The oldest are 15-20 years old, so well established. I have a couple that David Austin has discontinued on grounds that they won’t cope with climate change (Mme Alfred Carriere), but so far they’re hanging in. They got hit hard by the very hot summer in 2022(?), and didn’t flower well that year, better blooms later in the summer once it was cooler, but the first flush wasn’t great in the heat and dry. I’d say the thing which makes the most difference is whether there are any hard frosts in winter. We’ve had the last 2 winters with barely any frosts, which has meant that the roses don’t get that cold shock to reset them, and diseases aren’t killed off. The wet spring of 2024 didn’t help (I lost a lot of spring bulbs last year) and any leaves still on the roses had worse black spot than I’d seen for a while. Let’s see what 2025 brings! It’s looking good so far - lots of healthy shoots on the climbers I’ve pruned, and they’ve survived the sub-zero overnights recently.
Thank you Ang for the detailed report - so useful. Winter chill is so important to many of our plants but an unseasonal late frost can be damaging too - cant win. And thanks for posting about my survey - some interesting comments coming in
Ah, the late frost gamble! I have the audacity to grow apricots outside on an allotment, and there’s always that gamble with early-flowering fruit trees. The roses don’t seem to mind though - they’re tougher than my boots.
Good for you for growing apricots on the allotment - I suspect you may benefit from the heat dome effect of London. I always worry about my apricot and hope that growing it against the wall gives me a few extra degrees of warmth.
Hi Sally we were given one of those rotating compost bins so I split it in half and one half went in the raised veg garden the other went under the oranges, what was interesting was that the one under the orange produced fruit twice the size on the corresponding branch above. I put this down to the production of ethylene gas directly feeding the roots and am now wondering if I can use the gas produced in other ways like through in ground dripper systems or aquaponics to induce greater growth. Scientists have studied ethylene infused soil which speeds up seedling growth so it seems well worth investigating further. Can't wait to get a bio digestive toilet which you can also add veg waste, the two useful byproducts are supposed to be nutrient fluid and soil and gas which can be used for cooking or heating, should be interesting to experiment with. Thanks for the article.
Love the experimenting! Ethylene is a plant growth regulator. I can understand the boost to orange production as it is involved in fruit production and ripening. Another effect of ethylene is in helping plants cope with stress but you have to be careful as it also inhibits root growth. But there is only one way to find out!
Another thing I have been experimenting on is the creation of mulch full of slaters, if you course chop the garden material to be mulched and mix 1/3 old with new each rotation you transfer thousands of slaters and some worms. The course mulch is then full of life when it is placed around the garden which greatly enhances the numbers of skinks which control other pests especially caterpillars in the veg patch, With an added benefit of increased predatory birds, I am new to sub stack so i look forward to exploring further . Thanks again
The other benefit which you probably already know is that scientist's have found insect frass provides nutrients in a form plants can more easily access then regular fertilizer.
Thats fascinating - thanks for sharing . Re the frass - I used some a few years ago when we had an experimental black soldier fly breeding station on the farm to produce maggots for the chickens - the frass got emptied in the compost bins along with the spent barley waste that they were feeding on. Glad you found my post on Substack - its a great place for sharing and learning - we all have so much to learn from each other
In the Conservation just now there is an article I just commented on which may be of interest in regards to how to replicate the effects of the weight loss drugs ( the colonic break) through the foods we eat. the article was Açaí seed, a natural remedy against obesity and diabetes, my comment below.
There has been some interesting studies on the effects of biotic shocks on plants and their increased production of polyphenols and antioxidants as a form of protection, hence this is probably why organic veg not only tastes better but is better for you. The ability to artificially induce these biotic shock into modern agricultural techniques may offer us the ability to fortify our foods so to speak, one suggestion is to use the irrigation systems already in place. My version of the weight loss drug is to eat home grown pesto with Vita wheat biscuits and to this effect I have been trying to promote interest in the sharing of de-appetizer recipes as many indigenous foods offer these compounds in high quantities and have been part of our diets for a long time so need less lab testing.
I find this a fascinating area - great that you are experimenting - not a field I know huge amount, other than I feel our microbiome reflects our own environment and have always wondered if gardeners have a better microbiome as they come into contact with soil. Re the polyphenols and other protectives - I like to let caterpillars munch one brassica and I think this sends messages to the others to up their production of protective metabolites
Yes I know they are eaten there but even in the UK kept as pets the spent bedding is excellent for composting and poop as a fertiliser.
Absolutely - nothing goes to waste
The keyhole garden beds are really intriguing. This year in the garden, I need to make a compost bin and a new inground bed, and it would be great if I could do both while also getting water deep to the roots (always a concern of mine).
Do you know if I could "age" bokashi in there while the plants are growing? That's how we're handling our kitchen scraps right now, and this would be much easier than digging trenches for that stage. Would it be too acidic?
Good question Tanith - I bokashi all my kitchen waste too - when the bokashi bin is full I leave it 2 or 3 weeks and then empty in the compost bin. I would imagine you could add to the keyhole bin at that stage - should be fermented enough to put off vermin. Not sure how acidic the resulting compost might be given its a smaller volume than a standard compost bin - I suspect its a bit trial and error.
Thanks Sally. Maybe if I mix it with leaves as well as some soil? Or just stick with adding bokashi before and after growing. I’m going to look more into setting up keyhole gardens.
No harm mixing with soil to bulk it up and bring in more microbes
I think its trial and error. I was wondering if the fermented material would put of slugs too.
Thanks Sally. Do you have any good resources on keyhole composting gardens, especially about the science of how it works? I've been obsessing over this all weekend, watching videos, reading forum posts, and journal articles. But no one seems to know how it differs from a hugulkutr bed, besides adding an extra feature. Or just straight up saying it wouldn't work. I suspect that it works by capillary action -- taking water and soluble nutrients from the compost bin to the rest of the soil. My husband is also really interested in trying this, but I want to make sure that any design changes we need to make work with the science (especially the only needing 2L of greywater a week), and not against it.
The key hole gardens are a nice twist on Hügelkultur. I notice that there are more 'in ground' wormeries on the market recently, too - although, like all these things, hard to know how well they work or how practical they are to manage, until you put one into practice (and I haven't yet - largely because most of my growing is done on concrete!).
Yes saw them too - you have probably had the same marketing emails. With worms, you want the compost whereas an in-ground one means you can't access it so easily or not at all. I saw a lovely terracotta composter in a balcony garden at RHS Chelsea last year - looks like a rhubarb forcer https://tomiescuisine.co.uk/terracotta-food-compost/ - suit one of your larger containers !
I haven't noticed more of those in ground wormeries for sale, I need to look into them. I've had a thriving indoor wormery for a number of years now, the colony is well established so I could split it and experiment outdoors.
have seen them on Wiggly Wigglers - look quite stylish although they will be in the ground!
Yes on wiggly wigglers and there was an even more fancy (and interestingly designed - and pricy) one made by another company but they have closed their uk operation I think. I guess there might be benefits of having one in the ground in terms of microbial life and temperature control - but the practicality (and weight!) of using and moving one and harvesting the compost are less clear to me. I’m happy to be persuaded though!
I've had a look at them and it made me wonder if a chimney pot with a makeshift cover might be a cheaper alternative. It doesn't have the numerous holes in it like the fancy ones for sale but it might still work. I will experiment with it come spring.
A chimney pot or rhubarb forcer over a hole in the ground but can't see how you confine the worms but would work as in ground composter - I think I'll be experimenting too!
No I wouldn't want to confine the worms, they would be free to come and go just as with a shop bought inground worm composter. I will definitely think about experimenting with it if I can bring myself to making my lovely chimney pot mucky like that.
Thank you for sharing the key take away points from this conference, so many easy and useful practices we can all adapt. I had a little chuckle when I read about free ranging guinea pigs on the farm in Peru as I recently wrote a post about guinea pigs and how useful I find them for the garden.
In terms of the roses I only grow one climbing type and that the Generous Gardener. I do grow lots of other roses though, mostly shrub and one rambler. I'm probably not going to be a very good case study for your research as I stopped having any problems with my roses once my garden established itself and developed a lot of biodiversity. I find that when roses are not stressed by too much sun or draught (I mulch everything religiously) and not exposed to any chemical sprays ( I don't use any chemicals in my garden, not even to fertilise) they are not stressed and therefore not as susceptible to disease, pests or climate fluctuations.
Thanks Katherine. Guinea pigs - slight difference in Peru - they are a popular meat. Roses - some useful observations there especially having a biodiverse garden - thank you!
It is so great to hear about all of these experiements/ different ways of growing around the world. Sharing this knowledge is so important to growers everywhere. I am very curious how these ideas will spread and where they will take hold by growers
I have some Red Aztec amaranthus seeds ready to sow this year, so I'm very interested to see what it is like as a crop here in the UK. Not really interested in seed production (although I may try to collect some). I have a rather windy garden, so I am thinking I will need to chop it regulary, or set up a support.
Like Katherine, I have lots of roses but mostly shrubby ones. About 2 years ago put in two new climbing ones on the arch to veg area. They did not seem to mind the weather at all (which was v nice as I had a lovely view on days with miserable weather!). But it was a more modern variety chosen specifically for disease resistace and early repeat blooming, so maybe the rose variety chosen is also important. I replaced the previous roses as they had too much black spot and flowered less than I wanted. I did see a bit of black spot on these new ones but you had top search for it and the conditions were not great. So I counted it as winner and so did the bees. Oh, and I am in East Anglia in the UK, so a fen garden.
Thanks Lisa - these simple ideas are important as everybody can implement without too much in the way of materials. Be interesting to see how your Amaranthus performs in your windy garden.. And thanks too for the feedback on your roses - one of the advantages of being windy is that is reduces the humidity craved by fungi but on the other hand, it brings in spores,...
Hi Sally. I have 12 climbing roses on my allotment, all grown on arched frames. They’re mostly from David Austin, but there are a couple of Peter Beales’ and a Trevor White. The oldest are 15-20 years old, so well established. I have a couple that David Austin has discontinued on grounds that they won’t cope with climate change (Mme Alfred Carriere), but so far they’re hanging in. They got hit hard by the very hot summer in 2022(?), and didn’t flower well that year, better blooms later in the summer once it was cooler, but the first flush wasn’t great in the heat and dry. I’d say the thing which makes the most difference is whether there are any hard frosts in winter. We’ve had the last 2 winters with barely any frosts, which has meant that the roses don’t get that cold shock to reset them, and diseases aren’t killed off. The wet spring of 2024 didn’t help (I lost a lot of spring bulbs last year) and any leaves still on the roses had worse black spot than I’d seen for a while. Let’s see what 2025 brings! It’s looking good so far - lots of healthy shoots on the climbers I’ve pruned, and they’ve survived the sub-zero overnights recently.
Thank you Ang for the detailed report - so useful. Winter chill is so important to many of our plants but an unseasonal late frost can be damaging too - cant win. And thanks for posting about my survey - some interesting comments coming in
Ah, the late frost gamble! I have the audacity to grow apricots outside on an allotment, and there’s always that gamble with early-flowering fruit trees. The roses don’t seem to mind though - they’re tougher than my boots.
Good for you for growing apricots on the allotment - I suspect you may benefit from the heat dome effect of London. I always worry about my apricot and hope that growing it against the wall gives me a few extra degrees of warmth.
Hi Sally we were given one of those rotating compost bins so I split it in half and one half went in the raised veg garden the other went under the oranges, what was interesting was that the one under the orange produced fruit twice the size on the corresponding branch above. I put this down to the production of ethylene gas directly feeding the roots and am now wondering if I can use the gas produced in other ways like through in ground dripper systems or aquaponics to induce greater growth. Scientists have studied ethylene infused soil which speeds up seedling growth so it seems well worth investigating further. Can't wait to get a bio digestive toilet which you can also add veg waste, the two useful byproducts are supposed to be nutrient fluid and soil and gas which can be used for cooking or heating, should be interesting to experiment with. Thanks for the article.
Love the experimenting! Ethylene is a plant growth regulator. I can understand the boost to orange production as it is involved in fruit production and ripening. Another effect of ethylene is in helping plants cope with stress but you have to be careful as it also inhibits root growth. But there is only one way to find out!
Another thing I have been experimenting on is the creation of mulch full of slaters, if you course chop the garden material to be mulched and mix 1/3 old with new each rotation you transfer thousands of slaters and some worms. The course mulch is then full of life when it is placed around the garden which greatly enhances the numbers of skinks which control other pests especially caterpillars in the veg patch, With an added benefit of increased predatory birds, I am new to sub stack so i look forward to exploring further . Thanks again
The other benefit which you probably already know is that scientist's have found insect frass provides nutrients in a form plants can more easily access then regular fertilizer.
Thats fascinating - thanks for sharing . Re the frass - I used some a few years ago when we had an experimental black soldier fly breeding station on the farm to produce maggots for the chickens - the frass got emptied in the compost bins along with the spent barley waste that they were feeding on. Glad you found my post on Substack - its a great place for sharing and learning - we all have so much to learn from each other
In the Conservation just now there is an article I just commented on which may be of interest in regards to how to replicate the effects of the weight loss drugs ( the colonic break) through the foods we eat. the article was Açaí seed, a natural remedy against obesity and diabetes, my comment below.
There has been some interesting studies on the effects of biotic shocks on plants and their increased production of polyphenols and antioxidants as a form of protection, hence this is probably why organic veg not only tastes better but is better for you. The ability to artificially induce these biotic shock into modern agricultural techniques may offer us the ability to fortify our foods so to speak, one suggestion is to use the irrigation systems already in place. My version of the weight loss drug is to eat home grown pesto with Vita wheat biscuits and to this effect I have been trying to promote interest in the sharing of de-appetizer recipes as many indigenous foods offer these compounds in high quantities and have been part of our diets for a long time so need less lab testing.
Many thanks
I find this a fascinating area - great that you are experimenting - not a field I know huge amount, other than I feel our microbiome reflects our own environment and have always wondered if gardeners have a better microbiome as they come into contact with soil. Re the polyphenols and other protectives - I like to let caterpillars munch one brassica and I think this sends messages to the others to up their production of protective metabolites