Welcome to the Ozarks helen. I think you are making a good move! My sis lives in the DesMoines area and I always wonder why!!

Gardening here will be challenging after that good Iowa, rockless soil but it can be done. Hopefully, you have the old garden spot and yard to use and maybe lots of the rocks are already gone. My sister and I have been comparing weather and it seems to mirror ours, only a bit colder in the winter.

Be sure to bring as many of your plants as you can. Starting from scratch can be daunting, to say nothing of expensive.

Once again, welcome to God's Country.

GD

Welcome from Central Missouri wine country! We have mega rocks here but I have learned to incorporate them into my gardens....with the exception of my veggie garden of course. Try the lasagne gardening method for adding better soil content to this nasty clay ground that we have. If you read previous pages you will find it or you can do a search. Think positive....only 38 days left until Spring!

Hi Helen, welcome home! We live near Dixon, Pulaski County. My wife was born and raised near here and we moved down here five years ago from the KC area. We live on the typical suburban one acre lot on top of a rocky ridge. I was lucky and was able to move with us many of the plants that have special meaning for me, like from my mother and grandmother. I know the rocks are a chalenge, every time you plant a tree or a shrub; but, the winters are easier and the country is so beautiful in all seasons. Good luck! Russ.

Welcome Helen! I'm glad to see a few new people and I think someone else mentioned they had just moved to Texas county. I have lots of rocks too. I'm getting lazier about digging them out. I just cover them up with compost and mulch and plant my flowers anyway. : )

Missouri has a lot of pretty rocks, Helen :) My beds always take twice as long for me to prepare because I stop and peer at every rock I dig out...always looking for something that has lots of sparkles or maybe a fossil or two. I love flowers and veggies, but I'm also getting a pretty big rock collection, too!! Love to use the sparklies to line my beds -- gives me more things to stare at when I'm checking out the plants and the fossil rocks are all over the place for me to pick up and admire! Welcome to the group!!

Hey, welcome home! I did the same thing...stayed away for 30 years and then came back.

There is a huge advantage to buying an old homeplace. We have one of those, too. The first recorded ownership is dated 1874...not really so long ago, but you'd have to see where it is to appreciate the guts it took to do it. I have learned that either the first or second owner had a blind wife. (First one didn't stay long) We had wondered why the well and ice house were located so close to the back door of the old log cabin.

Anyway, the garden is very rock free. Of course, we had to pick them all up out of the fence row and haul them away. LOL I had plans for the fence row on the north side of the garden.

I suspect most of your plants will be happy to move to warmer country. There are a few exceptions that I can think of. One is rhubarb...not large on most peoples list, but I really haven't had much luck growing the red kind here. The old green one will do fine, but the red likes colder country. Some apples do better farther north, but there are those that love it here...such as Arkansas Black. I have a love/hate relationship with that apple. It keeps in my celler for months...in fact has to be stored before it's fit to eat. Seems to be totally resistant to Cedar Apple rust and produces every year. Winesap and Starks Krimson Delicious are also doing well. Have not found a yellow apple that does well here because of the cedar apple rust problem. We don't want to spray more than twice per year, so that limits our selection. All of the berries will do well here. Brown rot is a problem here with the excessive humidity, so those fruits that have a problem with it are off our list. The old half wild concord grape does well.

I would check in with your local University Extension Agent for lists of plants. You will find some plants that you couldn't grow in zone 4...so it's a trade off.

Just read your post and welcome. We moved here from nebraska and love the warm weather. Hope things go well for you with your gardening this year. Judy

Welcome, I am new here too. I'm beginning to think alot of people are doing the same thing you are doing. Moving back to the country and doing more gardening and such. I grew up mostly in Dallas and Detroit and moved to a small (3000) town in Missouri. Everyone thought I was nuts now they all live there and I have moved (for the final time) to the outskirts of a little town with a population of 5. The nearest grocery store is 30 minutes away and the nearest big town is an hour. My mom thinks I'm insane but it is so beautiful up here. I heard my first coyote the other night and am not thrilled with those but it is a small trade off. My b/f's mom has 2 1/2 acres here and is giving us like an acre of it. We are planning to build a house here and I want to put in lots of plants and trees. My dad lives in Michigan and bought my grandparents farm after they passed away which is over a hundred acres. I'd love to be up there but the winters are way too cold. Well, I hope you make lots of friends here and good luck with the rocks. Tina
ps:what kind of house are you building?

Welcome back to God's country! I know you'll love it. Just think of the rocks as a bonus and you won't have to buy anything to line your beds with. ;-) Nancy

Welcome neighbor. I am in Texas county also. We moved here from Ca. over 20 years ago and really like it. Haven't done too much gardening 'cause of working, but recently retired and anxious for spring to get here so I can start renovating this awful yard.
Donna

Hi Ozarkhelen,
We did the same as you except we moved to Texas and back.
welcome! hope you'll love GW as much as i do. You can depend on good info and friends.
Vickie

Thanks everyone for welcoming me. I love rocks so I'll feel at home. In Iowa I searched farm fields and also carried rocks home every time I visited or vacationed anywhere, maybe thats where my love of rocks came from?(MO)Just now came to me, DA. I even moved about 200 special rocks down to our new place,(everyone thought I was nuts! I probably am but at least I won't have to dig them. I have gardened all my life and this is going to be fun. I think I know a lot more about it now than when I started it 25 years ago on my present spot (lots of mistakes and surprises, but thats what makes it fun. I just don't know if my old body can do it all again, digging and hauling rocks etc. But I guess a true gardener will find a way! The winter up here this year really made me want to be down there where it is a little warmer, even though it was a mild winter. Thanks again so much for all your help. OzarkHelen