Aren't rocks a basic part of New England gardening? They were buried by the glaciers, and then we dig them up.

Lucky us........ ;-)

When I lived with my parents north of Philadelphia (on a lot gouged out of a hill, so there was no topsoil, only subsoil which rapidly turned into a sandstone parent rock) I always had to take out not only the shovel, but also the pick any time I wanted to plant a new shrub or big perennial. I had to create pockets in the sandstone to receive the plants. Fortunately the grain of the rock was tilted, and so it was easy to hit it with the pick and crack it apart. It was very soft rock.

The granite stones here are a different animal!

We have rock mixed with a bit of clay. Digging requires a shovel, fork and pry-bar (not neccessarily in that order). Get used to it, or get a second job to pay for all the machine rentals :0

2lips,
I say embrace your rocky sandy soil and have some fun with it. While the rest of your property may be lush with rich soil, why not enjoy planting things that will grow well in nutrient free well draining soil. I suggest that it is possible to create something wonderful from your patch of sand as that pretty well describes my entire lot. If flowers were what you had in mind why not try Sedums, Eremurus Himalaicus, Yucca, Kniphofia. kt

I'll tell you what I do to most of my new beds - but you aren't going to want to hear it LOL! I double dig them by hand to a depth of 2-3 feet and then screen the soil before it goes back. Hey, what can I say? It's cheaper than a therapist!

I have two methods for getting rid of rocks and you're not going to like either one.

When they're in my crop fields, my tractor turns them up when I plow or harrow. I either toss them onto the edge of the field where I'm not planting anything or I toss them in the loader and find someplace else to dump them. That's the easy method.

When they're in my yard where I want to plant flowers, I dig them out with a shovel and either edge the new flower beds with them or load them into a wheelbarrow or little red wagon and dump them elsewhere. This is my least favorite method and the only advice I can give for doing it this way is: "Don't think, just do." If you think about how awful it is, you'll never get it done.

I guess that technically I have three methods for getting rid of them. The third would be to pretend that they're not there in the first place. About six inches or so below my front lawn are loads of very large flat rocks that were where the carriages used to turn around when our house was a stagecoach stop. I have been slowly converting the front lawn into a flower garden and I slam my shovel into those rocks all of the time. I have pulled some of them out, but I have left most of them where I found them. The flowers don't seem to mind, and that includes everything from bulbs to perennials to roses. I guess that makes this the easiest method. HAHA!!

I've done what cloud did! And it was the only thing that tired me out enough to sleep through the night and made me cry while I was coming to terms with a dear friend's suicide.

The long term benefit is that gardening is now really EASY, pop 'em in, pop 'em out, add compost and you're done!

I live with them. If they are in the way, I use them as edging after I plant and compost fill the spot. I do appreciate the well draining soil. Bulbs don't get water logged. Yes, sedums do quite well also. Day lilies don't seem to mind either.

The section I live in is called "Rock Village" and it's not because of music. Rocks build character in the garden. Life would not be the same without some adversity.
I have lived here 34 years and there are still plenty in my garden.

Our old garden was on a knob of ledge and all our soil was more than half rock chips and chunks on top of solid rock. We made beds by shoveling the soil by hand through a soil sieve and then adding manure to fill in the missing volume. Big rocks were made into retaining walls and small gravel was added to the driveway to fill in low spots. (I live in a rural area and have a 'dirt' driveway.)

I think now (as my body isn't as able to work the way I used to) I would seriously consider making raised beds if space (height of adjacent building) allowed. Although fine sandy soil is my issue now, not rocks, I got a bunch of well-aged manure from a neighbor and now I use the tractor (though I could do it equally well, just slower, with a garden cart if I didn't have a tractor or good access to my garden space) to just set a mound, several inches deep, on top of the soil where I want the garden to be. I've been doing this for several years now, and have been happy with the results. I figure the worms will do some turning of the native soil and the manure together and some things get dug deep enough when planting to mix the soils. When I started I did do a few beds where I actually dug the manure and native soil together, but I don't see any difference between the two, so why do the work. I have mulched the beds with woodchips to keep the amount of weeds down.

I have a challenging yard and have worked on developing gardens around my house for the past sixteen years. I would look at your task as a long term project. I have several gardens around my house to cope with the rocks, ledge, and sand. I love my patch of prickly pear cactus that has frequent displays of 50 + yellow blossums during the summer. I have removed many rocks that I have the strength to carry. For the larger rocks, I leave them exposed to develop beautiful crusty lichens. I have had several truck loads of compost and loam dumped in my yard and this has helped me establish lawn areas. The grass needs watering during summer drought since the soil is so thin. I am always testing digging tree and shrub planting holes. If I can dig a nice planting hole two feet deep then I fill it with soil and plant a tree that can tolerate dry and sandy soil. I look at my yard as a true gardening challenge and try to make the best of the situation. Have fun!

Chervil2

Ha! Thanks--I appreciate hearing everyone's tales, and know I need to just gear up for some work. Now I'm oddly almost looking forward to it!