Does anyone know where I can get rocks for my garden? Field stone, boulders, creek rocks etc......There are so many rocks around here it seems criminal to have pay alot for them.
Thanks,
Nikki
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
This message was edited Mar 4, 2006 11:20 AM
rocks???
Most farms in rocky country have a fence row full of rocks to give away or sell for very little.
wow that's an old thread
Nope......just proves and old acorn can sometimes lose a blind hog. Think I got that right. LOL
LOL
don't know how you even found this one, doc!
I think somebody mentioned that state parks have rock picking permits available (along the lines of firewood permits). The post I'm vaguely remembering might have been about PA, but other states may well have similar permits.
Still, I've been ogling the big crates of rocks at Irwin Stone... something to be said for having a whole bunch of rocks at once, and they seem to sort theirs for similar size/shape.. I like ones about the size/shape of a loaf of bread, big enough to make it quick to build a border or pocket bed, but not too heavy to horse around.
hart has told us about rock permits in the forest near her in VA. When I need to scavange, I go to the nearest contruction dig and see whats in the dirt pile.
and when they make the temporary driveways, I now see recycled crushed buildings used for that stone, and iI find small chunks of granite , polished on one face, black, tan white or red. But just say about the size of a deck of cards.
But buying a batch of matching stone really would let you make a nice display or edgeing etc
still I cannot resist the allure of the natural stone found in the wild which is perfectly rounded (ovalled) and smooth
Sally, I can bring you a few hundred pounds of rocks like the ones in your photo to the February Seed Swap in Frederick ;-) ....so long as the snow is not too deep to find one of our piles.
ooh, those are the kind of rounded rocks that would be great to top off my new bubbler/bog (didn't happen this summer, but I have the basin (a 40" round pond form), pump, etc.). I was going to use pieces of drain pipe to fill part of the reservoir, then top off with pea gravel. David, maybe you'll let me scavenge one of your piles when I've got it to that point of construction?
Around here, I pretty much find rocks with edges & points and flat surfaces, not weather-rounded ones
Rocks are a great converstion piece over on the NE forum. Bill(wha) is our rock king!!!
You can follow his rock walls construction here
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/873748/
I only find tiny orange ones in my yard...nothing like he can get...it's a running joke.
Awesome wall there.
Yea.............that is a nice wall with lots of grunt behind it.
Meanwhile the original poster sleeps on. LOL
An interesting potential exists on the Landscaping Forum. A photographer from China has entered with a landscape of a mountain village in China.
doc, the original poster is gone with the wind - no longer a subscriber, so I guess she can't see these replies! Oh well...
If you can't harvest rocks in the "wild", check for a stone yard near you - not a nursery that sells pallets of stone, but one where you can drive in, get your empty vehicle weighed, drive into the yard and select what you want, get weighed as you go out, then you go in and pay. Actually lots of fun. My son and I did this for weeks while we were collecting "rip rap" (gray/blue rock used in road construction) rocks to make a border for a woodland trail. I should have kept track of the number of loads we got in my wagon, but the ultimate cost was not much at all, and you could hand-pick the shape and color of the rock you wanted.
Here's a link to their page, if anyone in the Northern VA/DC Metro area is interested: http://www.sislersstone.com/
When we had a flagstone patio/walk and terraced stacked stone retaining walls built a few years ago, the contractor got all the stone from this place! ;-)
Our mountains are a rock pickers delight. Most of the Appalachian chain looks the same. If you care to be totally honest a permit is available usually expressed in tons with a time window in which it must be used. Our cabin is in the deep woods where God must raise his world wide stone crop. It is miles away to the nearest cabin owner. The unimproved fire roads are lined with rock as well. If I wanted a ton at one picking I would get the permit.
How to estimate rock weight for a car load......If the car fenders are rubbing on the tires you have a somewhat to heavy load. Throw off a couple. If the front end is substantially higher than the back throw off a couple. If a back tire blows, spew off your ugly thoughts. The rock and trees will not hear your voice. Throw off the whole load, put on the spare. Leave half of that load for the next trip. Don't stop at the local bar for a cold one. The locals living in natural stone cased cabins might turn your city butt in. Unless they own the bar they are opposed to your presence in the mountains for any purpose. LOL
LOL, doc!
Too funny, doc! Did you acquire this knowledge through personal experience? ;-)
All we have to do is stick the spade in the ground and we hit a rock.
This is down the road from us, and I think the rest of our area is just like it, but with a layer of soil on top.
http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/topogeo/photogallery/bfield.aspx
LOL, Doc
I never post without the base being experience. I just got kicked out of another forum by the forum owner who sits at the right hand of God. I was so upset I came over here and found need to advise on the skill of stealing the Government's rock. This has the possiblitly of touching the philosophy of Robin Hood. That makes them worth a whole lot more than if some farmer gave them to us. LOL
You should see the stone lined pathway filled with excess 2B stone to our out house, at our mountain cabin.. The Forestry guys left the 2B stone defouling the beauty of the mountain elsewhere. We provided a service moving them into a better need.
Only problem now is the stone warms up or retains warmth attracting rattle snakes. They also like our stone retaining wall by the front porch. All our people including the kids know how to safely handle them. They move to the coolness of the ferns and flowing water as soon as the mountain warms up each morning. We have eaten a few just to demonstrate how good they can be. That is also no longer legal. It is illeagle but broken down that word is only a sick bird. A real nice one is about 50 inches long with ten to twenty rattles.
That about fills a twelve inch frying pan. Tastes somewhat like very tender chicken.
I'm happy to say I've never seen (nor eaten) a four foot long rattlesnake!
LOL Doc, I'm sure your tax $$ paid for that stone so really..... is it stolen or just reclaimed. LOL
I must say that we drove thru Washington last week they were doing a lot of road work and there was an area where they were going to remove a section of road with an island of very nice pavers. I know those guys are just doing to jack hammer the concrete and scoop it all up including those pavers. I think if I lived anywhere near there I'd be down there gathering them up when the work crews left.
Bet you could get them delivered. That's what brown neckers and twenty dollar bills were made for. Time has just flown past me. It might take a fifty dollar bill....payable on delivery. They can make big bucks bringing them to you if you save miles from where they had to go with the waste.
You can find those rocks in creekbeds (or on my shower curtain) LOLOLOLOL.
I get my rocks delivered, free! But Bill (Wha) in the NE forum is most certainly the stone king. Ric
I see you have not found the goons to help you move those goonies about your property. Ever think of taking a load of top soil to the gooney pile? That would make a great island rock garden right where it is. LOL
No Doc, Those Rocks are for the pond when ever we get around to it. That big pond keeps getting moved down the to do list. They do look rather pretty from the yard just were they are though. Holly
They are very cool. I do not like my very flat featurelss yard- boring, but it is easy to mow. Some would see the rock pile and scream Snakes!
Snakes control chip and dale, moles, voles, mice and small rabbits.
I know that too~~ But my mother for one would rather see mice every day than a snake once a year! Personally, I think that is silly. I just don't understand being so petrified of snakes. Sorry! I'm sure someone will read that and feel slightly offended.
Fear only comes from the unknown. We had about a thirty inch black snake to enjoy last year until a neighbor pounded it to death and cut it in half with a shovel. I saw his eyes and heard his voice. He was absolutely scared to death of that snake.
We have a lot more snakes in our yard now that they cleaned out part of the hedgerow. I don't mind them but I do try to be careful and let them have a chance to move away before I reach in under things. If I can't see where I'm putting my hands I usually poke a stick in under and sweep it around first. The new neighbors across the street are both scared of them. I moved one for the husband the other day just happened to be there and moved it before he could go and get something to kill it. Then the wife came over and asked Ric if he would come as there was one near their back door that wouldn't move. Ric said it was molting and he had a devil of a time getting it to move on. At our house we would have just let it in peace until it was finished.
By definition, phobias aren't rational, but I sure wish people would just run away from snakes rather than reacting by killing them. I've moved snakes out of people's yards, kitchens, etc.. and most of the time I think if I hadn't been available, the snake would have been killed instead. :-(
''if I hadn't been available, the snake would have been killed instead. :-( ''
Oh I'm sure it would. : ^(
And as Holly described, it is not that hard to live and let live. Easier on both of us in the end! Why waste a half day getting all upset and ending up killing the snake? Can't tell my aunt this either.
I know that fear of snakes is a primal thing, and they're not cute or cuddly, but I don't think most people have any idea about how much GOOD they do, and usually they're more afraid of us than we are of them. It's a shame...
Too bad I am so far away from you all. I don't even have to stick a shovel in the ground, they are sticking out of the dirt getting in my way! We definatly live in 'rock country' here. But at least I have something complementary to make beds out of around my house. It has siding and rock.
My FIL still has a truck load of mountain stone to get rid of in the Camp Hill area, if anyone is interested. Ric
Some years back I posted pictures of John's rock work on the walkway he was building so I could garden easier. Years later, and a construction zone that hasn't allowed me to access the largest of our flower beds, and with the summer being so hot last year, I am not even sure if I still classify myself as a gardener or not. hahaha
I am happy to report that after a very hot summer, he kept with it and we now have the walls for the walkway and the actual soapstone walkway will hopefully be completed in 2011 if the weather permits and his back allows it.
I will post some of the pics he took of his work. Will have to go back at some point and find the original l thread I started about the walkway and many of you so kindly commented on.
Ruby
another view
and another...not really sure what I am posting because at the moment I am only able to access very small pics on my photo program.
one more
