Since you start with a layer of mulch - wood chips, grass clipping, etc. and layer compost on top, I don't see why not. You have to provide enough water to help the composting process continue and start far in advance of when you want to plant. If you're intereted in building healthy soil, I suggest you read Teaming with Microbes or other similar books and articles.

I recommend getting a soils test so you have a baseline to work from. Adding a ton of chicken manure might be good or it might be bad. It would be a bit of a trainwreck on my P overloaded soil. But mulch is always good.

If you try this in the summer, it won't break down very rapidly without frequent, light watering. If you let it sit over the winter, it will be nice.

There are some similarities (both climates have long dry summers) but there are also big differences. In Southern California you really need to have some permaculture techniques to conserve water and prevent things from drying out, and soil type is crucial for water retention.

IDK if I would say that you need "permaculture" techniques in SoCal. All you need to do is mulch deeply and apply the appropriate amount of water for whatever you are growing. That's just basic horticultural practices that aren't exclusive to permaculture.

I mean things like digging in swales on the sides of hills so the water doesn't just run straight down, creating a forest canopy to help provide shade and prevent water from evaporating from the soil, making sure the soil is rich, loamy, and spongy with decaying biomass, all this will help hold water and keep it moist, and plants will flourish in it. If you don't do this the soil will very likely be parched, dried out, and hard, and it will be hard for plants to grow in it. Remember, in hot dry climates a little less sun is better than there being a little less water.

Having a SW facing hillside in full sun, I disagree that if you don't take those actions that the soil will be parched, dried out, and hard. Mulch and proper watering takes care of that just fine.

A while back the LA Times had some interesting ideas for drought gardening. One neat idea was building water traps from big piles of half buried cut up branches. The night air is moist and condensation forms on the wood. By morning it drips down into the ground.

I think the eden ideas could work pretty well with a little irrigation here. Your soil does improve and what weeds you have become easy to pull with heavy mulching.

That sounds an awful lot like hugelculture which has no scientific or historical basis. Oh course the LA Arboretum has jumped on that woo wagon.

I am laughing now thinking of a big wagon with the word woo painted on it standing outside the arboretum. Of course it would have to be an old one with things planted in it. I wonder if it really does work or maybe just near the coast. I know desert survival people say to use plastic to make a condensation trap in the ground to gather moisture.

I put down wood chip mulch in 2 sections this year. the first I put down right after the rain, and the soil underneath is STILL moist!

The other I laid down a couple months later after that soil had dried out. I don't recommend this.

It's really dry here but the chips have been breaking down a bit so far. It might take longer but there is evidence that it's happening. If you first lay down a nitrogen rich material (like manure), I bet they would break down faster. (if that's your goal)

What I've learned:

The thicker the mulch the better it works. 1-2 inches doesn't do as much.

Do it in spring or fall, preferably after a storm. Do not do it summer, if the ground is dry, there'll be no water to hold in.

If the soil dries out under the chips, it's a PAIN to water. I have to scrape back the chips and water the soil. If I don't scrape them back, the top half inch of the chips get really wet and soggy and the soil stays bone dry underneath. I usually move the mulch and leave the hose running near the base of my plants for a while. It is (a lot) more effort to water this way, but I do believe I now water less frequently.

I'm curious to see how the mulch handles rain, if/when we get rain again.

Oh, i tried hugelkultur too (sort of). I have a bed that has really awful sandy soil, and I buried a few small logs pretty close to the surface (I wasn't up for digging a huge hole). There isn't much planted there yet so I don't have any results to share. BUT a few days ago I dug a hole to plant something, and found that while the surrounding dirt was as dry as can be, the log itself was super moist. I don't know if it will help the plants but it was surprising!

I recommend MP rotators for irrigation. They have a low precipitation rate and can rewet hydrophobic mulch or soil pretty well.