Keyhole and Mandala Gardening

Ask about permaculture at your local greenhouse.

There are several alternatives to traditional gardening designs and practices, including keyhole and mandala gardens. Keyhole and mandala gardens represent variations on a common theme: the circular garden. These two types of gardens arise from permaculture practices and provide various benefits to gardeners who elect to use them. Both prove are relatively simple to build, though they may require a good deal of attention in the beginning to ensure healthy development.

Keyhole Garden

A keyhole garden is a horseshoe-shaped garden built around a central path. These gardens commonly sit in raised beds, creating a fully developed and self-contained environment gardeners can enter. Keyhole gardens get their name from their shape – circular with a central opening, they resemble the keyhole of a lock. Building a keyhole garden entails creating a horseshoe-shaped bed, either raised or at ground level, and designing your garden within this space by arranging plants in a complementary fashion. Keyhole gardens are generally compact, with beds measuring 3 to 5 feet across for a garden that has a diameter of 6 to 10 feet plus the width of the path.

Mandala Gardens

Mandala gardens provide a variation on the keyhole garden theme. These gardens are actually a series of keyhole gardens – usually six – planted in a large circle around a central keyhole garden. The large circle of keyhole gardens grows together, creating an exterior shape similar to a star, while the keyhole garden in the middle retains its circular shape. Double mandala gardens occur when each keyhole garden in the large circle has a path on the inside and outside of the circle, creating a shape similar to a gear with teeth. Creating a mandala garden entails building several separate keyhole gardens and allowing those in the large circle to grow together.

Benefits of Keyhole and Mandala Gardens

Raised keyhole and mandala gardens make gardening easier by minimizing the need to work bent over or in a kneeling position. The self-contained beds also keep bordering problems to a minimum, prevent the spread of disease from wild plants and may help prevent the spread of potentially invasive plants planted in the garden. The circular nature of these gardens allows for easier access; you can work on a garden without worrying about damaging plants by walking through the space. The shape may also prove aesthetically appealing to some gardeners.

Permaculture

Keyhole and mandala gardens come from the tradition of permaculture. A portmanteau of the words “permanent” and “culture,” permaculture arises from the desire to create sustainable practices. In its orthodox form, permaculture aims to develop completely self-sustaining environments. Gardens feature prominently in permaculture designs by providing much of the food necessary for these self-sustaining environments. Despite their permaculture origins, keyhole and mandala gardens often serve other purposes, some aesthetic, some practical and some spiritual. The mandala is a geometric design representing the shape of the universe in Hinduism and Buddhism, lending it religious significance.

References

• Virginia Department of Social Services: Planting Time
• Rice University: Planting Your Keyhole Garden
• “Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture”; Toby Hemenway
• “Getting Started in Permaculture: 50 DIY Projects for Home and Garden”; Ross Mars et al
• “The Permaculture Garden”; Graham Bell
• Merriam-Webster Dictionary: Mandala