Ledyard — Keyhole gardening may sound voyeuristic, but it's actually a practice that has some very public benefits.

For one, the raised-bed technique that came to America via Africa can significantly cut labor because the intensive planting means less weeding, and the keyhole-like design gives gardeners easy access to reduce bending and stooping.

Keyhole gardens, generally anywhere from 8 to 12 feet round with a notch to one side allowing access, also are easy on the earth thanks to the compost pile that is generally placed in the center of the circle. The technique is great under the hot, dry conditions like southeastern Connecticut has seen this summer because the underlying rotting-wood layer retains moisture like a sponge.

"I've only had to water here nine or 10 times all summer," said Patrick Kelley, a leader in the region's community-gardening efforts who finished building a keyhole garden earlier this summer at Earth Friendly Farms, a small agricultural enterprise off Long Pond Road South.

He also has weeded only twice.

Kelley is now a proselytizer for the technique, which he said can be very cheap to build if gardeners are able to use found materials. Some of these gardens, which he calls Key to the Soul Gardens, are rimmed with used bricks or similar material, and they take two to three days to construct.

According to Catherine Winter-Hebert in the online design site inhabitat.com, most gardens waste space because pathways are used to allow gardeners the opportunity to weed and harvest.

"Now, imagine what would happen if you took those rows or raised beds and curled them into horseshoe-shapes — you could wander into the middle of them so you could pick everything you needed, couldn’t you?" Winter-Hebert wrote in the newsletter. "Therein lies the genius of the keyhole bed: all you need is a little pathway that’s wide enough for you to walk into and turn around in comfortably."

Kelley just finished another keyhole garden at the Groton home of Republican Heather Somers, a former town mayor who is vying for state senator from the 18th District this November.

At Somers' home, Kelley has built an 8-foot-round keyhole garden that started with cedar wood he cut up and formed into a circle, with about 8 inches underground and 24 inches above. He layered the bottom with rotting wood and material from a compost pile, then used organic fertilizer and, on top, a bit of biochar — charcoal produced from plant matter.

"Forty percent of our personal waste is compostable," Kelley said. "Lots of stewardship principles can be taught off these Key to The Soul Gardens."

He said keyhole gardens can save up to 70 percent of the water that traditional gardens require.

Somers said she decided to install a keyhole garden on her former farm property partly to teach her young daughter Grace lessons about the land.

"Worms are not gross," Somers said. "It teaches kids about composting."

She added that keyhole gardens are aesthetically interesting. Kelley likes to plant them facing east to help with meditation and said he makes them 8 feet round in a bow toward the number eight, which in numerology means infinity, prosperity or new life.

Kelley said keyhole gardens can be planted with a wide variety of vegetables and flowers, such as spinach, chard, marigolds and plum tomatoes. He likes to cap the gardens whimsically, perhaps placing a straw hat over the compost pile.

"It talks to me as it goes," Kelley said of the garden. "It's 90 percent inspiration and 10 percent perspiration."

Among the possibilities to add to the garden, Kelley said, would be placing a hibachi to one side of the keyhole and an ice bucket on the other side, allowing outdoor diners to enjoy the garden as well as some food and wine.

The gardens don't require tilling, and because of the intensity of the planting there are fewer problems with invasive plants and pests, Kelley said.

Kelley said the western United States and Australia are among the places where keyhole gardening has taken off, partly because less watering is required than with normal gardens. But he hopes to start a wave of keyhole gardening in southeastern Connecticut.

"The key is getting this out to the masses," he said. "This is about saving Mother Earth."

l.howard@theday.