Since the underling soil for much of the PNW is glacial till, yes, rocks of varying sizes are extremely common. It is only in very urban gardens or those that have soil that has been extensively improved/amended that one encounters few rocks.

That's really interesting, gardengal. We did move from the middle of a city to the edge of the suburbs, bordering on rural, so that explains why the soil is so different. Our current neighborhood has no sidewalks, so I'm using some of the rocks to create a buffer zone between road and planting. And I surrounded a new raised bed with rocks. And used them to surround the chicken coop. And I still have some left over. :D

Some urban sites are full of rocks also. Where budget and contours allow one solution is to buy screened soil and dump it on top of the existing soil, plant in that without mixing the two together.

Mike, you have me laughing out loud! Very funny!

I remember my dad screening the soil at our Montlake home - way back when ----- not sure what he did with the rocks.

My previous houses have had multiple layers of clay, rocks, hardpan, etc. Feel kind of guilty that my current house was built on prime farmland. FYI this is a fun tool to see what kind of soil you have-

https://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/WebSoilSurvey.aspx

Tom, got my house and location but could not get the map showing the soil layers

ophoenix - Once you find the location on the first map, click on the button (in the map legend) that says "AOI" with a red square. Then highlight the particular area. Next step is to click on the "Soil Map" tab to see the soil survey. If it's still not working, I can do a screen shot.

Thank Tom, I got almost there but it seems that there is not a soil map for our area. Thanks for the reply.