Second-year graduate student, Keola Annino, who is concurrently pursuing both a Masters of Landscape Architecture and a Doctorate in Architecture, designed a home gardening system to grow ʻuala (sweet potatoes) for his ARCH 696 Special Topics in Landscape Architecture project.  The ʻUala Halekuʻi, vertical growing system of cantilevered planting boxes are arranged and built in a spiral pattern around a central core.   This structure resembles the natural growth of the sweet potato while embracing another natural growth habit, crawling and climbing on hillsides and terraces.  A drip irrigation system is installed in the hollow core to water each box layer.  The system is meant to be a low maintenance system and conveniently adaptable for households with limited gardening space.

‘Uala is a hearty plant.  It is easily grown, cultivated, and made into many traditional Hawaiian dishes; it has other ethnobotanical uses, as well.  A crop is harvested after three-four months to supplement any nutritious family meal.  Cuttings can be made into new plantings to restart a new crop.

Keola envisions producing these home gardening kits for easy assemble at home.

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