Afri / Tex Keyhole Garden

Take a look at the keyhole garden we're building. The weather conditions in parts of Africa are very similar to here, and the Africans are being taught to build these gardens as a logical solution to the drought, and their difficulties getting water. I looked up several sites and am doing a combination African / Texan garden.   Africans put rusty tin cans for iron, bones for calcium, lots of dried grass, broken pottery, twigs, compost, and manure.  Texan gardens have a lot of cardboard, phone books, even cotton shirts. I put ALL of the above. It was a really cool way to get rid of old papers. We had too many to shred, and we can't burn them because of fire hazards, if anyone wants them they'll have to dig through mounds of muck!!!! We will water via the compost basket in the middle of the garden. There will be a 6 inch slope and gravity is supposed to allow plants on the outer edges to drink. I'm sooo excited about my little garden! It combines many things that I value... conservation, art, and frugality. I also had been wanting to learn to dry stack rock...I guess I got my chance, and throughly enjoyed it!!! I'll post more pictures when it is planted.  The first picture is the completed garden.  The 2nd picture is a close up of the compost basket.  My husband thought that if I wove Spanish Dagger into the hog wire, it might keep the compost from drying out so fast!  I love the green in the garden, and the 'native' look!!!