East-side tropical Puna rain forest Big Island notes and global agriculture input. Custom garden services available: designing, weeding, pruning, mulching, tree trimming, bull dozing, custom fish pools, fencing and gates. Chic Eco and associates provide work that landscapers don't!
After years of Hawaiian terrain study and reaching out to local experts, Chic Eco now offers custom garden services in Hawaii: design, weeding, pruning, mulching, pest control, fish ponds, tree trimming, bull dozing, custom fencing and gates. Basically, anything that enhances your garden rooms or open spaces.
We take pride in providing work with attention to detail that your typical landscapers just don't do!
Organic/natural permaculture expertise:
Specialty is garden rooms for meditation, dining, play ...
LOW hourly intro discount rates. View of your site will enable me to quote anything!
30 plus years of personal gardening design & maintenance experience.
Skills from coastal shores to 4,000 foot Hawaii elevations.
Artistic maintenance may include focus on blooms, colors, space, scents and edibles.
Incorporate design needs, such as for pets and children.
Weeding, hauling and unlimited service options.
Professional requests (commercial settings) welcome, including botanical green roofs, walls and signs.
Lodging at the site is negotiable.
I prefer to work with an environmental platform 'cause if I'm happy, you're happy, the plants are happy!
What a trip it was for this Kentucky-born gal to learn that landscapers don't provide soil here. I designed my fifth-acre property lot to have a corner island of fruit trees, flowering bushes and vines to climb the tall Ohia tree. I visioned it as my blooming food island. My shopping list was complete and I was oh so eager.
Thankfully, it was the banana tree supplier at Maku'u Market that asked me where I was going to get the dirt. Since he was recommending a landscaper, I was shocked. Landscapers don't supply dirt? So he explained that any landscaper has to work out the foundation with me. I learned the only truck loads you can get in this Big Island region is mulch from the Hilo dump. That's mulch, not dirt. With lava everywhere, you'd think I would have known that!
So my mission began for the foundation of seven varied banana trees. I learned the Hilo Transfer Station provides free green waste (mulch) when available. The equipped truck was on the west side, so I had to wait. Next mission was a hauler with a truck. That led to learning how the haulers work. There's self-loading in Hilo from 7am to 5pm. Assisted mechanical loading availability is subject to working machinery and time permitting. There may also be a wait time (line of haulers) for assisted loading. To abide by road regulations, haulers are asked to bring a pitchfork and tarp to properly cover truckloads of mulch.
Acquiring local dirt is complex, so I went for the easy method of Home Depot purchasing. They allowed me to pre-order so that the landscaper could pick it up on his way over. And although I'm a seasoned mainland eastern gardener, I didn't have a clue to what banana trees required. This is where the expertise from landscaper Jeff Goodman of Tropical Abundance came into play.
Jeff analyzed my site with his wife Lani beforehand. They studied my dumped pile of mulch, which was a combination of the city and neighborhood green waste, ‒ a total of three truckloads. Lani could tell that some of the green waste was newer and more acidic. They determined how to distribute the mulch and where to place the plants with soil, lime and chicken manure. They also sourced me a grafted mango and avocado tree to pick up at the Garden Exchange in Hilo.
No doubt every Puna garden newbie has a story to tell. I hope mine helps other gardeners from the mainland where lack of dirt is an unfamiliar situation.
Do enjoy my before and after pics. I am happy to report that one year and one month later my apple banana trees are producing!
