community outreach at the huntington ranch

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Four raised beds at the Huntington Ranch Garden provide us with an opportunity  to step away from Eurocentric crops, to sample a taste of history and honor the agricultural heritage of Californias of Asian ancestry. Some of the crops we are growing include bitter melon, yard long beans, pigeon peas, Chinese cucumber  and peppers, Japanese eggplant and  Vietnamese coriander. We consider how to mitigate the effects of climate change by practicing regenerative gardening practices such as compost, compost extracts and teas, mulch,  companion planting, intercropping, crop rotation, drought and heat tolerant varieties. We are also experimenting with ollas and other methods to learn how to conserve water and deeply irrigate our plants. 

At this site hedgerows serve as host plants for pollinators and other beneficials that engage with  our vegetable and fruit crops. By planting native hedgerows around  these four raised beds, we help create a more balanced ecosystem designed to improve plant and wildlife health - both which ultimately comes from the results of healthy soil.