Landscaping on lava

[Glenn P]

Like most good gardeners I've been reading everything I can get my hands on regarding tropical gardening. I came across The Subtropical Garden by Jacqueline Walker the other day. She talks about the lack of good soil to garden in is a fairly typical problem, given lava and poor soils. She recommends building up instead of down. Planting in heaps of compost and building up and planting in layers. This makes sense as it mimicks what's going on in nature. As I will be composting everything I can get my hands on, this should not be a problem. Starting off with some raised beds to get some trees and bushes started and then layering from there. Layering up gives good air and water circulation and should add soil over time. In the Northwest we have have poor soil in our forests and so the native plants basically do the same thing here in the wild. Blue rock? No worries, bring it on.
Glenn P