Hi Patti,
Come join us in the local (pacific northwest) plant trading forum. I will be having a trade in Sept. and I'm only 20 min. or so from you. It doesn't help with rocks, but it will with plants. There are always extra plants to give to newbies.

As for soil, you could make raised beds and line them with some of the larger rocks. Soil isn't so expensive one pick-up load at a time, about 10 dollars at Cedar Grove for a half yard load, and they are generous with their loads. You could also build a sifter. Cheap, but LOTS of work. Hope this helps with something.
Teresa

Thanks, Teresa! Wow! The trading sounds great! Not sure that I will have anything to trade, but I might just come to see what is going on. And I would be happy to take home any scraps. LOL

Yes, I have been thinking about raised beds. I saved some of the scrap lumber from construction, so I have *something* to work with. We are looking to buy a used utility trailer to haul some soil with. Good to know that Cedar Grove is generous! And I have started a worm bin! My 4-year-old daughter loves having wormies for pets. :-)

Patti

Find someone in your area with horses, chickens, llamas, rabbits etc. See if they have free manure. Go to the feed store locally and post there that you want some manure or old straw.
My local one used to have a big pile of old barn sweepings/straw etc and it was all half composted and they let you shovel a pickup full for free or a couple dollars.
If you even spread straw now over the area for vegetable garden and let it rot, by next spring you could probably plant right in it.

Just place the veg garden in as full sun area as you have.

When I was a newbie at our new house, I read a bunch of books from the library and had a little idea of what I wanted: patio here, some kind of tree there, bushes or something along that way, etc. I then had a landscape person come by the house and for $50 she walked all around with me, told me the names of locally hardy plants that would do well in the spots I pointed out, and gave me suggestions of what to look for and where to put it. I followed her around and took TONS of notes both on notebook paper and on a little crude map of my yard that I made up beforehand. It worked great, and I even used quite a few of her suggestions. I am nothing if not stubborn. Plus I tend to buy a neat plant if I see it and wonder where to put it later. It was nice to have a hand to hold at the beginning. You could go to a local garden club, and I'm sure if you asked some opinions you'd get someone interested in helping you out. We gardeners LOVE telling others what to plant!

I like to walk around established neighborhoods and see what plants they are growing in what conditions and how they look in a mature setting, then go to a nursery and find the plants. Or get ideas from gardening magazines.

Green Manure crops are good for building soil. Whole wheat or rye can be scattered in an area and covered and will grow in poor soil and can be dug in to enrich the soil. I had a lot of rocks once and at least you don't get many burrowing pests like moles and voles. I used the rocks for edges of raised beds.

Patti B- lovely house you have built there. I looked at almost all the photos. Great woodstove! Pity about that skunky view you have---NOT!!!

I am just down the road a piece on rocky Tiger Mountain and have learned that gardening UP in a raised bed as TreePalm said is the sanest way to go. I did the screening of rocks/clay/boulders/haul in soil deal to create a couple new 18 inch deep beds and damn near killed myself. I was skinny though! Even the rototiller hired to turn up the 'soil' at the outset said "don't call me again, please!" LOL. When we moved in, the neighbor said if you want to plant anything here, you'll need a good pickaxe. And she was right. Building up is the only way to go.

I would start compost piles in any places you can in your yard. Save everything including grass, leaves, kitchen scraps and get that stuff going. If you need extra barn waste hay/straw/ goat poop let me know. I have more than I can use usually, as well as regular deliveries of horse doo. You are welcome to come bag it up.

Congratulations on finding yourself in such beautiful surroundings! I have no doubt that your yard will reflect your dreams, just as your house will, in good time.

Thanks for all of the replies, everyone!

plantknitter - I do have access to good horse manure where I pick up my CSA box. Many years ago, I worked at a Thoroughbred breeding stable, and we would have happily let anyone take as much manure as they wanted. And, per King County, we did have to put straw down anywhere the earth had been disturbed, so we do have a little of that already. :-)

ell_in_OR - That is a great idea! I do have some idea of whre I would like some things, and we could probably scrape together a little bit of money for a professional consultation. Then we could work on our plan over the next several years.

hemnancy - great idea about putting some wheat or rye seed down. It couldn't hurt! :-)

Poochella - I had forgotten that we still had our pictures up! Thanks for taking the time to look at them, and thanks for the nice comments. We do love our view! We even bought a telescope so that we can watch the goats on Mt. Si. Yep, raised beds it is! I have started a worm bin, and I picked up a composter for $20 for what the worms won't eat. Do you really get regular deliveries of horse doo?!? Do you have goats? Hubby keeps threatening to get goats, and so far I have held him off! We did have chickens, until construction started and the chicken fence went under the dozer. Without the fence, the chickens got picked off one by one by a coyote or some other predator. We can't WAIT to get that fence back up and get us some more chickens!!! :-)

Thanks again for all of your suggestions and encouragement! :-)

Patti

Patti B...all is not lost with a low budget. I would bet that if you contacted your local Garden Club they would have a member or two that would love to come to your new home on a nice afternoon and give you some pointers. Of course a bit of iced tea and maybe a bite to eat could be a bit enticing as well. And by-the-by... you don't need a budget to create a beautiful yard from scratch if you put on your thinkin' cap... have fun and enjoy... Jim

Best wishes on your soil-building and landscaping adventure! What a great site. Looks like those rocks can become free edging and garden architectural material. You're lucky!

No need to rush to get all done at once...and many of us like to volunteer in OPG (Other People's Gardens) even more than working in our own. You can find some of these people on Craigslist.com if it is in your area.

1) Please save your budget by letting GardenWebbers provide all the Plants, bulbs and seed you need as you have your planting spaces laid out and amended.

2) Consultation: If you upload pix of the planting areas you have in mind, (with notes about how many hours of sun, or if that area is part shade, has AM sun, etc) lots of folks here would offer ideas for Free.

3) Seeing those trees in your photo makes me think you will wanna peruse lists of Deer Resistant plants (there are LOTS) and add them to your Want List.

4) I'd plan to attend Fall and Spring garden Swap events, email a bunch of us who do Seed SASE your mailing address, and prepare in Nov/Dec do winter sowing to prepare for a busy Spring of planting in raised bed areas that you've prepared this fall.

5) Large containers are a good temporary measure - until soil is ready, if you can handle almost daily watering until fall.

6) If your family does gift exchanges for Birthdays or Christmas - this next few years provide them with a garden wish list. Do the same if you havea house-warming. have copies around for friends/neighbors who come for a tour of the new home.

You are sure to get some cool suprises - especially from GWebbers! - as you clarify what you hope for!

Enjoy your new Digs!

Jules, in Portland