Question
What soil composition should I use for a berm? My dirt mover/excavator says I should build it with sand and then fill the holes with a good loam, compost mixture. It seems to me that the trees and bushes I plan to plant there would need something to grasp. Yet, digging a hole in the sand and filling it with a good soil may make sense. What is the correct way to build a berm? I plan to put trees and bushes in the berm and then some grasses. The berm will be a privacy barrier to the street.
Thanks for any help you can give me, Bobbie
PS>I live in southern Maine (zone 5)

Answer
Hi Bobbie
A berm with good soil consists of topsoil with a ratio of
45% clay 40% sand and 15% of organic material such as compost or peatmoss.  The sand compost mix will not sustain your plants in two ways, sand is to well drained and infertile and although the loam is organic and fertile
it will not have the ability to hold the plants in place they will tip over or wash out. build it with good topsoil and plant your berm with a little organic matter around each plant.  Good Luck  Larry  ;-)