The soil quality is crucial for plant growth and crop production. It is the foundation for healthy and productive plants. If you live in an area where the soil is full of stones and rocks, it will be difficult for your plants to grow well.
While removing every little stone from your garden is unnecessary, large stones should be discarded.
In this article, we will discuss how to remove stones and rocks from your garden. Also, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of having them.
If you are looking for a particular section, jump right in:
- Are Stones Good For Soil?
- Is Soil With Lots Of Stones Bad For Plants?
- My Yard Is Full Of Rocks, What To Do?
- What To Do With All Stones and Rocks?
- Why Topsoil Is Important?
Are Stones Good For Soil?
A garden without stones and rocks would not be a complete garden. Most gardens have stones and rocks scattered around. And this is normal!
Stones and rocks can be used in gardens to improve soil drainage, thus improving soil quality. They’re also helpful for landscaping projects and can be incorporated into garden beds, pathways, and other outdoor areas.
If they are not in your way, for example, hitting your Hori Hori knife when digging or not letting seedlings come out of the ground, then you don’t need to remove them. In some cases, they will even benefit your garden.
Benefits of having rocks and stones in the garden:
- Drainage – properly layered under the topsoil will improve soil drainage.
- Weed Control – a layer placed on top of the soil will suffocate weeds.
- Aesthetics – garden visually looks nicer and cleaner.
Pro Tip 1. If you add rocks or stones to your garden, ensure it is layered. There will be no benefit in just mixing them with soil.
Pro Tip 2. Rocks or stones look great in the garden. However, unlike woodchips, they do not provide any nutrients to your plants. So, use woodchips if you plan to use mulch for your garden, and the garden will thank you for it with an increased amount of crop.
Is Soil With Lots Of Stones Bad For Plants?
Soil with lots of stones can have a detrimental impact on plant growth. Ordinary rocks and stones have no nutritional value to plants.
It doesn’t matter if stones are under or on top of the soil. The more there are, the more space they will take (obviously). This will negatively impact the ability of plants to grow.
Disadvantages of having rocks and stones in the garden:
- Poor plant growth – plant roots will have difficulty searching for moisture and nutrients around large rocks or stones.
- Lack of space – when the soil has large quantities of stones or rocks, it may not allow other plants to grow in the same area.
- Impacts soil workability – the soil will be harder to dig, till, amend or mix.
- Less organic material – more rocks means less organic matter available in the soil.
- Soil compaction – As the soil is compacted by stones, roots will have difficulty accessing moisture and nutrients.
Pro Tip. This is not taking into account Mineral Rocks. These types of rocks are beneficial to the soil and can add a lot of value to all the plants in your garden.
So, if your soil is full of stones and rocks, let’s discuss how to remove them.
My Yard Is Full Of Rocks, What To Do?
Rocks and stones in a yard or garden are typical, but too many can make the soil very hard to work with.
If stones or rocks get in your way when digging or planting, they should be removed. With some planning and effort, you can transform your rocky outdoor space into an inviting fruit and vegetable garden oasis.
There are several ways to deal with the problem of stones or rocks in the soil:
1. Sieving Stones From Soil
You can use sieves to separate soil from stones. It can separate small stones, rocks, and garden debris from your valuable soil.
Sifting your soil is time-consuming but not a very difficult task. All you need to do is the following steps:
- Place a bucket under the sieve,
- Pour the rocky soil into the sieve,
- Shake it up, letting the soil run through,
- Pour out stones, rocks, and any other garden debris from the sieve and discard them,
- When the bucket is full of sieved rock-free soil, pour it into a wheelbarrow,
- Repeat the process until you have enough soil or got all the rocks out.
2. Dig And Collect Stones From the Soil
Another easy method for removing stones and rocks from the soil is to use a garden fork and shovel. This is a simple method but mostly suitable for large and medium size stones and rocks.
The downside, it is a long and laborious process!
All you need is a sturdy garden fork and a shovel for this process. Then, all you do is “dig dig dig dig, dig dig dig from early morn’ till night.”
- Place the shovel into the soil and pry it to loosen up the soil.
- When the soil is loose, use the garden fork to lift up that soil.
- The garden fork will lift the stones and rocks that are the same size or larger than the distance between the forks, while the soil will fall back to the ground.
- Place stones to the side and continue to dig and fork until you get enough stones out of your soil.
- Then, just discard them all.
- Repeat the process until you have enough soil, or get all rocks and stones out of the ground.
Pro Tip. When you are finished collecting stones with a garden fork, you can use a sieve to collect the smaller ones.
3. Grow In Raised Beds Or Containers
One effective way to deal with stones and rocks in your soil is by simply bypassing the laborious removal of stones and building raised beds or growing in containers.
Raised beds are ideal for growing vegetables, herbs, and other plants. They can be constructed with various materials and built to any size.
These beds are then filled with the soil of your choice. So, no rocks or stones to worry about! Unless you will throw a few of them in yourself, of course!
Using containers or pots will also keep the soil free of stones and rocks. Containers are great for growing vegetables, herbs, and other plants and can be moved around easily if needed.
4. Use a Soil Sorter
If you want to get rid of stones and rocks in your yard quickly, then getting a soil sorter is the way to go.
A soil sorter is a machine that can separate rocks and stones from the soil. It is basically a huge sieve. It is easy to use and can make a job much easier and faster. But you will need a small digger for this job.
The size of the soil sorter mesh (screen) will depend on the size of the stones and rocks you want to remove from the soil. You will need a larger soil sorter mesh (screen) to remove larger stones.
Pro Tip. The soil sorter is an expensive piece of machinery, and it can be challenging to find, but it can be an excellent investment. Especially if you have a large area with many stones and rocks to remove.
If you don’t want to buy an expensive industrial soil sorter, you can make one yourself. This video below will explain how to build a homemade soil sorter.
What To Do With All Stones and Rocks?
There are many uses for the removed stones and rocks. The most efficient way to use them is to improve water drainage in your garden or lawn, especially in those areas where the water gathers during the rainy season.
This is a straightforward process:
- Dig a hole in the area or close to where the water gathers. The hole does not have to be wide, but it should be at least 1.6 feet (0.5 meters) deep. The more stones you have, the wider and deeper hole you can dig.
- Fill the hole with the collected stones leaving 2 to 3 inches (approximately 5 to 8 cm) from the top. It doesn’t matter if the stones are big or small.
- Cover the stones with polyethylene or a weed-control fabric to stop the soil from filling in gaps between the stones.
- Fill the hole with soil. All will settle in a week or so. Then, just top it up with more soil to level the hole with the surrounding area.
And you are done!
If you are lucky enough and you do not have water-clogged areas in your garden, great! You can use these rocks and stones for other things, such as:
- Driveways,
- Patios,
- Lawn edging,
- Walkways,
- Decorations,
- Planters,
- Raised bed edging,
- Steps.
Why Topsoil Is Important?
Topsoil is an essential component of any garden. It provides plants with the necessary nutrients and minerals to grow and thrive. It also provides a stable base for plant roots to grow and spread.
Topsoil helps to retain moisture and regulate the soil temperature. The topsoil’s organic matter helps keep the soil loose and aerated, allowing for better drainage and nutrient delivery.
Quality topsoil promotes beneficial bacteria, fungi, and microbes that help fruits and vegetables grow healthy and produce their best crops.
Without topsoil, plants would not be able to develop a healthy root system and would not be able to thrive. For these reasons, it is essential to have quality topsoil for your garden to flourish.
Conclusion
As you see, removing stones and rocks from your garden is possible, but it takes a bit of work. You can also bypass this challenging job and grow in raised garden beds or containers.
So, hopefully, you found the answer to what to do when your soil Is full of stones and how to improve the soil quality.
Also, check out other similar articles in our Soil and Fertilizers and Lawn Care sections.
Want to share your thoughts, or have you read something you disagree with? Please send us an email! We would love to discuss it 🙂
