Melons
Watermelon and cantaloupe are among the warm-season crops being evaluated.
Produce
Growing Food in Southern Arizona
Produce production at CompostHubOnline is being developed around the conditions of the ranch: strong sun, limited water, seasonal weather, and the need to use growing space efficiently.
The objective is practical production — crops, growing systems, water management, and soil practices that can work together on the ranch.
Protected Growing Areas
Produce is being developed in protected growing areas designed to organize soil, irrigation, crop management, and harvesting within defined production space.
The ranch is using 3-foot by 8-foot gabion growing beds as one part of this system.
Using Water Carefully
In Southern Arizona, water management is part of crop planning from the beginning.
The growing system is being developed around controlled delivery, soil management, crop selection, and practices intended to make productive use of available water.
What We Are Growing and Testing
Squash
Pumpkin and winter squash fit the farm’s interest in productive warm-season crops and useful biomass.
Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes provide both a food crop and an opportunity to evaluate root production in the ranch growing system.
Other Seasonal Crops
Additional crops may be added as growing conditions, water use, markets, and farm needs are evaluated.
Soil Is Part of Production
Produce production connects directly to the Worms and Vermicompost enterprises.
The growing areas provide a practical place to observe soil-management methods and develop farm-use experience with biologically processed organic material.
More Than a Harvest
- food production
- customer and institutional supply
- farm demonstrations and documentation
- biomass and appropriate feedstock streams
- learning what performs under local conditions
Building Produce Capacity
Approximately 1.95 acres are being developed for produce production within the broader ranch system.
The emphasis is on building repeatable growing capacity rather than claiming that the entire area is already at full production.
What Comes Next
The next phase includes seasonal production, crop evaluation, water management, soil documentation, and development of dependable markets for what the ranch can grow.