Screening Soil for Rocks

Reading about heathrjoy's drainage problem, and the fact that her clay soil had been screened made me wonder a lot about how much rock, or how many rocks should be removed from a bed. The picture shows how much of the local shale came out of two small beds I dug. The beds total almost 60 square feet. One bed is about two feet deep, and the other somewhat less. I put in as much rotted leaves, composted manure and peat moss as I could muster. I did start screening shovels full of clay in one of the beds; the soil is the exact same color as the parent stone beneath it, and I got tired of picking rocks out by hand.
The screen is that 1/2" hardware cloth, so there really isn't much left. In the future, what is a better way to remove just big rocks? "Digging" is accomplished after heavy rain, by shattering the 'rotting' shale with a pickaxe. Maybe I should find a small section of chain link fence to throw the dirt through? There is a good amount of organic material in there, but I wonder, if I let it dry out completely (like a drought while I'm on vacation), will it be just one big brick .... it's just that color, too

One more thing, that shed is your garden variety 6'x8' Amish built unit circa 1978

When ever I selectivly remove rocks from my eternal rock pile in my garden I leave most of what I have. Those that are large and get lifted by my rototiller I toss. If I had that pile in front of your building I would leave about 30% or less rock. Rocks are good for soil structure. But mine are round glaciated types not the shale you have.

Shale breaks down pretty quickly, well, in terms of geologic time, but I don't think I'll still be gardening when it does. I wonder more about the occasional lump of coal that I find in my garden and yard. It's carbon-based, so it can't be all bad, but it is a little disconcerting to find it in soil that's growing food I eat...

Hmmm I have never run into a lump of coal except at Christmas. I would not think that it is bad for anything. After all it is just old old old trees and ferns that were under pressure. Though some are from algae at the bottom of ancient seas. Well at least you could grow Coalarobie, or coal beans, Zucoalii, in a coal bed early in the spring. Just light the soil and you could keep the green house warm. lol

What, no coaleus? The coaleoptera are having a banner year around here.

The trees manage to get through the shale, eventually. When they built this subdivision they used dynamite to make the holes for the basements, and then just pushed the material around wherever.
I wonder if it makes sense to put a few inches of stone in the bottom of a bed. I could see doing it on a hill where I could put a drain pipe instead of making a catch basin. We have gotten a lot of rain this year.

I'm about to coallapse with laughter at the really horrid (and delightful) puns.

I'll resist the temptation to use the Botanary or Garden Terms for this coalaboration

Claypa,

The "Rock Rake" at Lee Valley looks like something I may try.

http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.aspx?c=2&p=10526&cat=2,44821&ap=1

MM

I think it is a coalossal idea to use shale at and in the beds. The only discoalsoaling idea is that it would be difficoal to dig in the beds up to replace the coal thing if you needed to in the future. The shale would provide homes for lots of critters and would essencially be a coalominium for frogs, toads, worms, and snakes to make you garden home. Good Idea.
Hey I like the rock rake too.

This message was edited Jul 25, 2006 10:30 PM

Shale we dispense with the puns now, please? Granite, some of them are almost funny....
When I used to live downeast ME I thought, "this'll be a good place for some hostas"...First poke with the shovel I hit bedrock. A lawn managed to barely cover a big ledge that I assumed was soil. Other places on the property had big pockets that held the glacial sand and gravel and a few hundred years of spruce,pine,fir,etc. I saw a photograph of the yard from 1890 or so, not a speck of soil to be seen. Now there's phone-pole sized spruces and cedars. I go back for vacation every year, which reminds me to try and get some granite dust from the quarry nearby

Thanks for the responses, except the rockus humor

Yes I had the same problem with several losses in my garden. One was an Oak that I planted over a rock deposited by the glaciers and it had about 20" of soil over it so my rototiller didn't warn me of it and my hole I dug must have been 19". Well we know the result. Now I use a heavy breaker bar to locate the deep layes of rock. Sorry about my "play" on words.

No problem, I can't think of any more either :)P

Anyway how did pottstown get named? Probably lots of clay shrouds around the industrial area or do you have corn fields with tall weeds growing in the rows? LOL

An Englishman named Potts started an iron forge here in 1740's. No, we have tall weeds in our industrial area and clay in the cornfields lol...Bethlehem steel, Occidental chemical, Firestone tire, all have nice tall weeds. The corn and soy fields grow bumper crops of housing developments. Any dental floss tycoons in your parts? I know it's not too hard on your eyes up there

OK I don't get the dental floss? Kodiak, Kalispell, Alaska, Montana?

Frank Zappa.

Does Frank Zappa live in Alaska? I do remember the eating of an unmentioned thing on the stage. I would prefer tooth brush.

Frank's gone, used to live Laurel Canyon in Hollywood, I think. He was from Glen Burnie MD, didn't like to admit it, though. Gee, now we're talking rock again!