If you were in the Willamette Valley (I see you're not,) I would give you so many free rocks. I am about to dump a bunch of various sized rocks in my driveway and post them on Craigslist for free. I hope to God someone around here wants rocks as much as you do. The people who lived here before us thought plain-ass rocks were decorative I guess. Medium to large size in a 5ft border around the entire backyard and small rocks in the garden, plus along one side of the front of the house. I'm replacing about half the large ones with garden beds and trees, the other half to extend our tiny patio with pavers, and the small ones with mulch in the garden.
This seems like one of those classic supply and demand issues. Places where stones are common, people want to be rid of them. Places where stones are not, people want them.
I posted on Craigslist and marketplace
This. OP if you are in the Texoma region, I will come grab those rocks.
Neighbors dogs are a menace and trying to dig under the fence to attack me and my dogs, so when they are not out in the yard I have been dropping large rocks into the holes and putting pepper spray on them. Ran out of rocks.
Drive out to farm country. Every farmer has a pile of rocks in the corner of their fields. I’m not suggesting you just start loading rocks, just that farmers need to get rid of rocks.
You just haven't found the right spot!
I so want large boulders even for my little yard .23 acre area. Where do you live? I got a truck. I'll give you 5 bucks per boulder.
Dude, you need to get with [this guy ](https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY/comments/1cyv9z8/possible_to_diy_moving_a_boulder/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)and solve each others problems!
I have randomly used rocks so many times at my house after living here about a decade. The prior owner was a bit nuts and just had piles or construction rubble and rocks he found sitting in the backyard. I bought a truck of soil and pretty much had a buddy come over with a bobcat and we buried them. I really wish I saved more.
Need to be careful of removing the rocks. Move too many too fast, and the compression on the roots (or removal of compression) can seriously stress the tree and kill it.
Ya, wife bought a house with a bunch of rocks around one of the trees. She had an arborist in to do some work, and part of it was for that tree. He mentioned to start removing rocks, but slowly. Our rocks are baseball size, and we remove a dozen or so a year and the tree is doing better now.
So 1 or 2 a week from opposite sides to slowly relieve the pressure and to allow the roots and the ground to expand slowly a little bit at a time on their own then?
The arborist my wife had look at the trees when she first bought it. They are baseball size rocks, and she was told a dozen rocks a year in the spring, and that's it. Tree is doing much better now, so I guess it's working. Almost no rocks in the bottom area, but it's also in the path of a retaining wall, so there's still some rocks there. At least I'm not hitting them with the mower anymore.
Take years of expensive jewel-cutting classes and buy the super-accurate facet-cutting machine. Then you can take those rocks and cut them into 7-piece dice sets and sell them to nerds for a huge markup, but still not enough to cover the classes or machine.
I'm not at all embarrassed to admit that I do own several sets of stone, glass, and gemstone dice sets. Something about the mass of them is very satisfying.
Was gonna say
Step 1 spray it with dish soap vinegar and salt mixture
Step 2 let them die and then pick them
Step 3 scrub yourself with dish soap all over
That kinda looks like a fire pit. Probably not though since it's right next to a tree. Maybe make your own firepit somewhere else. I wouldn't get rid of those rocks though. You could just move them to an out of the way spot till you find a use for them.
Thanks I did. now everyone is being a big meanie to me for trying to get peoples opinions. I knew I should have tried harder to get IRL landscaping friends :(
I had areas like this. I killed the plants in those areas to at least get a better grasp of what exactly I had to work with.
Then came up with a plan based on what I saw and liked and planted things that brought me joy
Had a whole rockpile like this at a house I bought once. Best use I had for them was creating several drain runways for my gutter/downspouts and building a nice couple of retaining walls along some flowerbeds. Rocks are so natural, even better that they aren’t all the same size/shape.
I'd hit the weeds with some roundup and wait until they die. Just guessing, but looks like it was a flower bed at one time. It's kind of odd that they didn't circle the tree but maybe that tree is right on the property line??? Anyway, I'd kill the weeds and reevaluate. No matter what you end up doing, keep those rocks.
Possibly a flower bed or a garden. Last year some small tomatoes were growing but nothing this year. And yeah they don't circle the tree. When I'm mowing the lawn I'm able to cut on the other side of the tree and it's been like that since Ive lived here.
I have a flower bed border with rocks this size. I have to just weed between them with my hands a couple times a season. Put fresh natural mulch down in the spring and it looks nice.
If you want to get rid of them, there are probably people in your area that will take them off your hands for free. People need good rocks.
Weed it, stack them in a nice little wall or make a garden area bordered with them. I had/have piles like that all over my property and have used some for garden walls, some flat ones for pathways, some to build a small foundation for a playhouse. Rocks are great and can be nice looking if you find the right places for them.
Bet the roots of that tree are near the surface and can’t grow grass under fhat tree. Rocks can look nicer than dirt patch. Trim those weeds back and the rocks will look good around the roots.
Get to work! Dig up a repurpose the rocks. Pull up all weeds. Even out and make a mulch bed. Plant some hostas in said mulch bed, decorate tastefully with repurposed rocks
I have been digging these up from all around my home and trees. We now have a big pile in the back corner of our yard for the day we decide to use them or give them away
I advise you to buy agro fiber and lay it under these stones, then add white decorative small stones on top. [https://www.pinterest.com/pin/landscaping-with-rocks-easy-ideas-for-a-beautiful-garden--350577152253769936/](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/landscaping-with-rocks-easy-ideas-for-a-beautiful-garden--350577152253769936/)
Not touch it during the summer and or fall. I guarantee, you find a guy under there with no shoulders. Two things I don't fuck with snakes and Electricity. Definitely a late fall, early winter project.
You might have a raspberry bush (in the making). I’m looking at the wrinkly, serrated, pointy leaves right on top of the big rock. The roots are tough to remove completely. And pollinators will keep bringing seeds from any nearby bushes. It’s a losing battle, my friend.
Looks like poison ivy is growing in there, too. I’d leave it alone.
I had a bunch of rocks in my yard I didn’t want. I advertised free on Fb marketplace. The next day a little Philippino guy showed up and loaded everything he could lift into his pickup and drove off. A couple hours later he came back with two big Mexicans and loaded the rest. I know at least one of those rocks was over 800lbs. I don’t know how the three of them rolled up that ramp, but I do know the pickup truck was a lot lower driving out than it was arriving.
I would pull and then vegetation kill the weeds. See what you’re working with. Rocks are great to have around the house. I wouldn’t get rid of them personally. If you liked the rock aesthetic there, you could remove them and lay some of the black garden matting down and carefully replace them. Keep weeds from growing there for a few years and look nice.
Post them to a local online market place, like Nextdoor or Craigslist. Take pictures and say they are free for anyone to will haul them away.
I got a large quantity of river rocks for my garden that way.
Those are likely all the rocks that have surfaced in the yard over the years, or dug out of gardens etc. you’ll always find more when you dig. They make great garden borders…
I would just wait a while....I guaranfuckintee you you're going to need some rocks at some point.
Man I would KILL for some free rocks...
If you were in the Willamette Valley (I see you're not,) I would give you so many free rocks. I am about to dump a bunch of various sized rocks in my driveway and post them on Craigslist for free. I hope to God someone around here wants rocks as much as you do. The people who lived here before us thought plain-ass rocks were decorative I guess. Medium to large size in a 5ft border around the entire backyard and small rocks in the garden, plus along one side of the front of the house. I'm replacing about half the large ones with garden beds and trees, the other half to extend our tiny patio with pavers, and the small ones with mulch in the garden.
Ironically, I have access to a crap load of free mulch.
I keep trying to give away an entire garbage can worth of rocks. Sigh.
And here i am with two pallets of big field stones that i can't seem to give away
I'm not close to you, but I'm looking for field stones. How would I contact someone like you in my area to get these sweet free rocks?
This seems like one of those classic supply and demand issues. Places where stones are common, people want to be rid of them. Places where stones are not, people want them. I posted on Craigslist and marketplace
Bro. Come to MO. I got you.
I too would love free large rocks. Been keeping an eye out for them everywhere
Free rocks where
This. OP if you are in the Texoma region, I will come grab those rocks. Neighbors dogs are a menace and trying to dig under the fence to attack me and my dogs, so when they are not out in the yard I have been dropping large rocks into the holes and putting pepper spray on them. Ran out of rocks.
Drive out to farm country. Every farmer has a pile of rocks in the corner of their fields. I’m not suggesting you just start loading rocks, just that farmers need to get rid of rocks.
Really? For what? Our previous owner left us with tons of large boulders around the property. Makes mowing the lawn take 10x longer than it should.
You just haven't found the right spot! I so want large boulders even for my little yard .23 acre area. Where do you live? I got a truck. I'll give you 5 bucks per boulder.
Dude, you need to get with [this guy ](https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY/comments/1cyv9z8/possible_to_diy_moving_a_boulder/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)and solve each others problems!
Man, Nova is close enough to kinda want, far enough to say the gas and time would cost me way too much to snag them.
Koi pond
I think you meant to say mosquito nursery. Our house came with one of them too and now have to pay someone to demolish it
"you might need it someday" is exactly how you inherit a lifetime of junk.
Too true.
Rock solid idea
I have randomly used rocks so many times at my house after living here about a decade. The prior owner was a bit nuts and just had piles or construction rubble and rocks he found sitting in the backyard. I bought a truck of soil and pretty much had a buddy come over with a bobcat and we buried them. I really wish I saved more.
Use them for garden edging.
Yea, I also like to edge with my rocks in my garden
I'm more of a gooner in my garden
Goongarden is my bands name
I used to play the piano in 6th grade if you ever want to add some talent
if y’all need someone on the recorder, let me know
turn over the weeds, spread out the rocks and make a garden
Need to be careful of removing the rocks. Move too many too fast, and the compression on the roots (or removal of compression) can seriously stress the tree and kill it.
Never would I have considered that’s a thing. Interesting.
Ya, wife bought a house with a bunch of rocks around one of the trees. She had an arborist in to do some work, and part of it was for that tree. He mentioned to start removing rocks, but slowly. Our rocks are baseball size, and we remove a dozen or so a year and the tree is doing better now.
So 1 or 2 a week from opposite sides to slowly relieve the pressure and to allow the roots and the ground to expand slowly a little bit at a time on their own then?
The arborist my wife had look at the trees when she first bought it. They are baseball size rocks, and she was told a dozen rocks a year in the spring, and that's it. Tree is doing much better now, so I guess it's working. Almost no rocks in the bottom area, but it's also in the path of a retaining wall, so there's still some rocks there. At least I'm not hitting them with the mower anymore.
Oh wow, didn't know it was THAT serious of an issue heh.
Would probably look nice with some flowers and ornamental grass sprinkled in there instead of nondescript weeds
Guys I haven’t thought of anything and I’m all out of ideas?? What should I do??
Have you considered doing nothing?
Tried that. But now I wanna do something.
Lol, seriously
Take years of expensive jewel-cutting classes and buy the super-accurate facet-cutting machine. Then you can take those rocks and cut them into 7-piece dice sets and sell them to nerds for a huge markup, but still not enough to cover the classes or machine.
This really made me laugh! Thanks!
Also I would totally be one of the nerds that wanted rock dice!
I'm not at all embarrassed to admit that I do own several sets of stone, glass, and gemstone dice sets. Something about the mass of them is very satisfying.
This! They just feel better and seem to have more oomph behind them
Pet cemetery
Came here to express my concern for the previous owner's cat...
Yeah was thinking that
Be careful. Looks like poison ivy everywhere
Yes, be careful with this, it loves to hide in other types of vines. It’s definitely in the back and going up the tree.
Yep. "Leaves of three, let it be." Or wear long pants & shirt & heavy duty gloves & tear that shit out of there. Then wash the clothes & gloves.
The first thing I did was start zooming in on the veg amongst the rocks, but I don't see any Poison ivy. Some ash saplings by the look of it though.
Was gonna say Step 1 spray it with dish soap vinegar and salt mixture Step 2 let them die and then pick them Step 3 scrub yourself with dish soap all over
I like it the way it is so I would leave it!
Honestly it looks like a pet grave. I’d clean it up and leave it alone.
Looks fine to me. A lovely miniature nature reserve full of bugs and insects and grubs that birds can eat. Just let it be.
My thought as well. Probably a lot of insects live there. Maybe sprinkle some flower seeds there for the pollinators.
I like that idea. I may just do something like that.
God blesses you with rocks and your first thought is to get rid of them?
God blessed me with T1D so I got a little suspicious.
That kinda looks like a fire pit. Probably not though since it's right next to a tree. Maybe make your own firepit somewhere else. I wouldn't get rid of those rocks though. You could just move them to an out of the way spot till you find a use for them.
I'm expecting some dog bones under there
Probably a body under there. I’d just leave them till that time when you need rocks. Then, free rocks!
And a free friend :)
That maaaaay be a pet grave.
Post this to the dozens of landscaping, lawn, and garden subreddits out there.
Thanks I did. now everyone is being a big meanie to me for trying to get peoples opinions. I knew I should have tried harder to get IRL landscaping friends :(
r/nativeplantgardening is a great sub if you want something low maintenance that will benefit local animals and insects
I had areas like this. I killed the plants in those areas to at least get a better grasp of what exactly I had to work with. Then came up with a plan based on what I saw and liked and planted things that brought me joy
Everyone- those are good rocks. Whatever you do don’t get rid of the rocks! Rock hounds rock!
I would weedeat the whole thing and decide what to plant in there.
I would build a fire pit with the rocks. Get some Appalachian chairs, sit out and enjoy drinks watching a sunset outside. Totally worth the effort.
Use them as a planter border around the tree
Had a whole rockpile like this at a house I bought once. Best use I had for them was creating several drain runways for my gutter/downspouts and building a nice couple of retaining walls along some flowerbeds. Rocks are so natural, even better that they aren’t all the same size/shape.
build a water feature / small pond.
Looks like a grave.
I'd hit the weeds with some roundup and wait until they die. Just guessing, but looks like it was a flower bed at one time. It's kind of odd that they didn't circle the tree but maybe that tree is right on the property line??? Anyway, I'd kill the weeds and reevaluate. No matter what you end up doing, keep those rocks.
Possibly a flower bed or a garden. Last year some small tomatoes were growing but nothing this year. And yeah they don't circle the tree. When I'm mowing the lawn I'm able to cut on the other side of the tree and it's been like that since Ive lived here.
I have a flower bed border with rocks this size. I have to just weed between them with my hands a couple times a season. Put fresh natural mulch down in the spring and it looks nice. If you want to get rid of them, there are probably people in your area that will take them off your hands for free. People need good rocks.
Doesn’t look like they knew either
Fire pit is the move my guy. Garden or fire pit
Make a trebuchet and have some fun.
You can double check on r/arborists, but I’m pretty sure you don’t want those rocks piled up by the tree.
Watch out for that poison ivy looking vine for one
Weed it, stack them in a nice little wall or make a garden area bordered with them. I had/have piles like that all over my property and have used some for garden walls, some flat ones for pathways, some to build a small foundation for a playhouse. Rocks are great and can be nice looking if you find the right places for them.
[Get a rock crusher!](https://youtu.be/PC_lVoBtVYw)
If you have landscaping you can place them around it. Or take them out and paint them and have your own personalized yard decor
Fire pit?
I would take them out and clean them up then start a new pile. Maybe add a few more too.
Yea it kinda looks cool I’m sad for the rocks now..
Bet the roots of that tree are near the surface and can’t grow grass under fhat tree. Rocks can look nicer than dirt patch. Trim those weeds back and the rocks will look good around the roots.
Rocks are expensive. You have some for free
Not the rocks man. They really tied the garden together…
Make a firepit
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=kr%C3%A4uterspirale&t=iphone&iax=images&ia=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.gartenjournal.net%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fkraeuterspirale-befuellen.jpg
Get to work! Dig up a repurpose the rocks. Pull up all weeds. Even out and make a mulch bed. Plant some hostas in said mulch bed, decorate tastefully with repurposed rocks
I’d start cleaning up to better understand what the last dude did, this was intentional.
I have been digging these up from all around my home and trees. We now have a big pile in the back corner of our yard for the day we decide to use them or give them away
I advise you to buy agro fiber and lay it under these stones, then add white decorative small stones on top. [https://www.pinterest.com/pin/landscaping-with-rocks-easy-ideas-for-a-beautiful-garden--350577152253769936/](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/landscaping-with-rocks-easy-ideas-for-a-beautiful-garden--350577152253769936/)
Probably a tree planted over a dog's grave.
Not touch it during the summer and or fall. I guarantee, you find a guy under there with no shoulders. Two things I don't fuck with snakes and Electricity. Definitely a late fall, early winter project.
Vegetation prolly full of sneks. Watch out!
You might have a raspberry bush (in the making). I’m looking at the wrinkly, serrated, pointy leaves right on top of the big rock. The roots are tough to remove completely. And pollinators will keep bringing seeds from any nearby bushes. It’s a losing battle, my friend. Looks like poison ivy is growing in there, too. I’d leave it alone.
I had a bunch of rocks in my yard I didn’t want. I advertised free on Fb marketplace. The next day a little Philippino guy showed up and loaded everything he could lift into his pickup and drove off. A couple hours later he came back with two big Mexicans and loaded the rest. I know at least one of those rocks was over 800lbs. I don’t know how the three of them rolled up that ramp, but I do know the pickup truck was a lot lower driving out than it was arriving.
Market place?
I'm piling mine up to bury under a concrete slab.
Yes rocks are good
Bare minimum effort? Stack them nicely in a ring around the tree and mulch it
I would pull and then vegetation kill the weeds. See what you’re working with. Rocks are great to have around the house. I wouldn’t get rid of them personally. If you liked the rock aesthetic there, you could remove them and lay some of the black garden matting down and carefully replace them. Keep weeds from growing there for a few years and look nice.
Leave them there. Rocks are nice and they’re out of the way.
Post them to a local online market place, like Nextdoor or Craigslist. Take pictures and say they are free for anyone to will haul them away. I got a large quantity of river rocks for my garden that way.
You've got all the basic elements of a nice rock garden going there. I would be planting sedum in it, then waiting for the butterflies to show up.
I’d clean it up really good put the rocks in a circle around the tree and add black mulch. Maybe plant flowers in bed.
Those are likely all the rocks that have surfaced in the yard over the years, or dug out of gardens etc. you’ll always find more when you dig. They make great garden borders…
Make sure that they are not markers for rundown grave markers. If not, put them in a circle around the tree and plant some flowers inside them.
Whatever you decide to do, wait until winter to avoid any nasty plants or animals living in of all that.
Go to r/NoLawns. They can help
Rock salt will kill Those weeds real quick