River bed = rocks...

I live near the edge of a pretty major river, and my whole yard is nothing but rocks. I am going broke buying nice commercial soils and such, does anyone have any suggestions on how to improve this situation?How exactly are you supposed to "break down" rocks? It's almost gotten to the point where I dread planting anything, cause that means I'll have to dig a hole (always a workout) and buy 3 different bags of soil and conditioners.....
Does lots of bark mulch help? Does it break down well in rocks and provide a nice soft layer?

Dynomite? I have a tree root problem that I solved by building raised beds. Maybe going up instead of down is the answer.

ilovemygarden, why don't you try planting in large clay pots, I have several in pots, about 20, because they are young or I don't have a permanent spot yet, most are in 12 inch pots. they will winter over just fine if they don't get too wet. I haven't lost any. I do check the drainage hole so they don't have wet feet. LOL hostajim1

Hostajim : LOL I have quite the "pot" collection as well (see pic), so many that I am running out of room for anything else on my deck....

I have the same problem! We live right next to a river and all we have for soil is sand and rocks (with the occasional random shell). I have tried ammending it to no avail. So we have containers and raised beds that do quite well. Just watch the raised beds in the heat of the summer, the sand underneath can suck the life right out of 'em. Good luck!

By the way, we have made many ornamental ammendments to our yard using all the river rocks.

renwings, I don't live near a river, instead am 1450 above, but still have lots of rocks. i/we used lots of them to make a dry rock retaining wall for garden on slope. They are not pretty rocks but the price was right. Here a couple of photos. This early in the morning the lighting is not right but you get the idea.

renwings, when our children were going to the U of W we used to drive through Sultan lots of time taking them back to college, that was 30 - 40 years ago. They always had to make a joke "Now you're in-Sultan"

DonnaS

And here is another view more to the East. The bank raises to the north, My nearest neighbors live at the top of the bank about 50 or so feet higher, their house is set back from hillside so they can't see my house and i can't see theirs. The neighboring house below is about 50 or so feet lower and because of my fence I can't see their house and they can't see mine. In fact no close houses are visible from my house. DonnaS

rutholive, where is Tonasket?
My husbands joke is, he is now the Sultan of Swing. Sultan is getting big! We're working on our 2nd stopligh.

You're retaining wall has made a very pretty garden! We saw someone up the pass in Index who has balanced rocks in stacks in their flowerbeds. Very striking affect! We mostly imbed them in cement and use them to line beds and place them under the faucets.

renwings, Yes I noticed last time i was through there that the town/city is growing. Tonasket is north of Wenatchee, close to Canadian border. I live 4 miles west of Tonasket, and about 20 miles south of the C. border. No stoplights in Tonasket. I have lived in this area all my life. DonnaS