New House Landscaping/Dirt

[Rene Siracusa]

Sometimes after grading/grubbing what is left on the surface is blue rock or lava rock (a'a or pahoehoe). If so, you would have to truck in black cinder and then topsoil. Most of our native plants, such as hapu'u tree ferns can grow in just cinder. You can use rock walls or hapu'u trunks to make raised beds. Just be careful about where that topsoil comes from, and that it does not have any unwelcome passengers, such as little fire ants or albizia seeds.