A couple points: If you are actually going to remove 3 yards, it will expand as mentioned above. A general rule is double so that would be 6 yards. However, lots of gravel means less expansion. Expanded dirt with gravel will weigh at least 2000lb per yard. Rock and heavy clay is about 3,000 lb/yard. A pickup truck would simply be insane to haul that to dump as there will be a minimum fee for each dump and you would be making lots of trips. If you absolutely must do it yourself, it would probably be best to hire your local waste hauler to deliver a low roll-off for construction debris. You might run an ad on craigslist or find someone advertising on CL that would come dig it out and haul it off for about the same price. The oil in the soil can get VERY ugly. I hope it is in very localized places. I would dig it out very carefully and get it all into a trash can for disposal. It may cost you several hundred dollars to dispose of that can. You don't want to get caught dumping it anywhere including the trash haul. You may have a serious claim against the seller of the home since it seems you just bought the house. You city may have a procedure to take that waste and it could actually be free. It varies according to your locality. If you are putting in fake grass, you might as well take out the Avo. Even putting in real grass and leaving a small ring will not allow the Avo to thrive. Avo requires fast draining soil and aeration for the roots. Long term will also need to allow the leaves to accumulate around the tree and decompose into the soil to encourage the symbiotic relationship with the microorganisms that allow Avo to absorb water and nutrients. There are lots of trees that would survive in a ring in fake grass but an Avo is NOT one of them.

Hi Juju, I've only been to Phoenix a few times, but I'd say yes. I first read on AZ gardening, then Tucson-specific gardening and then got those booklets from the Phoenix Water people - All seem to say the same things. If you were moving to a higher elevation in AZ, things would be different, but from what I remember of the weather (oppressive heat), the main parts of Phoenix were very similar to where I live in Tucson. You might have problems with plants that are on the border of a "zone" ... I'm not sure about that. We had a frost here last year that killed some cacti and other things, but other than covering things you know are "tender" for a couple of weeks - paying attention to plants' highest zone number seems most important here in the desert. To tell you the truth, most of what I've paid attention to when researching plants is the amount of sun and heat they can take, and how much water they need. Realizing this came only after much denial and losing many plants. Oh, and you *absolutely must* plant most things in fall. If you remember nothing else, remember that! I tried to plant in the spring a couple of times and nothing survived. Including the native plants. At first I tried planting stuff I'd loved when in CA and NY - Don't do it! Unless they are succulents or cacti :D What's great about the book and sites I mentioned is you can see there are gorgeous plants that smell good, will feed birds, hummingbirds, butterflies, and they will actually *thrive* here. They might not be what you are used to, but change can be a good thing. Of course, a gifted gardener could probably get many things to grow which I cannot... but after losing so many plants over the years I'm always looking for the prettiest plants that take the least amount of effort and water :) Most of the plants here have to deal with full, *blazing* sun, which has to be similar to most of Phoenix. It's been a pain changing my mindset and learning all this new stuff which is usually the exact opposite of anywhere else I've lived. Happily, more plants survive now because of all the time spent researching and because I can now pry myself away from all the plants I love (but won't survive here) that bigbox stores and a lot of nurseries carry. If you have a hard time leaving your favorite plants behind at a nursery, make sure you bring a list of plants that will do well here - AND STICK TO IT! That's the hardest part :P Good luck!

I’ve done this (I’m north of you about an hour.) I’m a 5’6” tall woman and did all of the work myself. 1. Use a sod cutter (rent from Home Depot.) Any other method will take forever and will require a lot of maintenance. Use a quality water permeable weed barrier after you do this unless you want to pull grass and weeds forever. This has been the difference in my yard looking good when my neighbors who also went low water are spending their weekends pulling grass and weeds. Seriously. 2. No, find someplace else for your roses. They won’t look good together and they have different needs. 3. If your drainage is good you don’t need to do anything- most succulents are super adaptable but you MUST have good drainage. If you don’t, you will need to till and add some kind of aggregate and you would need to do it deeply to avoid the “bathtub” effect around the plants. 4. That’s a personal taste thing. I didn’t edge, I dug down to make it level so if it gets out of the yard i just sweep it back in. 5. Wood mulch looks like crap as it ages and breaks down so if you go that route you are commiting to maintenance and future expenses. Bugs like wood mulch, too. I used California Gold decomposed granite and it was a great choice for us. There are lots of stone/gravel choices so you can find something that looks good with your house. 6. Different succulents have different needs so you have to research each one and group accordingly. I have some that I never water because they are winter growers and that’s the only time it rains here. I recommend you spend some time looking online, driving or biking around your area, etc. to see what plants are doing well in your area- and then choose some of those amd some that will make your yard different! I also recommend building some hills and curves instead of having a flat yard. Flat yards are boring. Have fun! We love our succulent garden and our tiny water bill.

I am having stone installed in areas of my front yard. Seems like I’ve been waiting forever! I’m on the landscaper’s schedule for September! The rock we chose they call ”brown 1” river rock “. Not a very exciting name haha! It’s what I’ve used elsewhere on our property and it looks so natural. We will have 4 yards of rock installed along with 400’ of heavy duty weed barrier and whatever else is necessary to complete the job. I can not wait to have this project done. White is nice but I feel is too glaring. Especially here in sunny Florida. Here is what mine looks like. And here is a pot of rain Lily’s that just bloomed today. So glad I rescued them from the front bed that will soon be rocked. I wasn’t sure if I saved rain lilies or daylillys. Ignore the leftover cherry tomatoes on the ground. I just pulled the plant out to compost. Tomatoes are done here until fall/winter. @Jilly count me in as a rock lover! When friends visit from up north they always bring me a big rock or two! I have them all over along with seashells. Rocks are hard to come by here except for coquina and I do have some of those!