Hello! I just moved into a new home a couple of months ago, and the front yard just has lots of rocks and weeds. My goal is to have a flower bed in the front yard. I reached out to over 50 landscaping companies to see the cost of removing the rocks, but nobody is wanting to do the job. One of the companies I reached out to told me that I can just put several inches of topsoil over the area to make a planting bed.

Is this true? Will the flowers survive if there are rocks underneath? I am just a little confused.

Thank you for your responses.

Hi! claraxoxo!

Usually here where I am when people want rocks removed they tell people bring a bunch of buckets or containers. Free. Do not make a mess and post it on Craigslist. Safety is always a concern on Craigslist, too.
Or put a sign in yard free river rock U-haul. You might be really surprised by how many people would take away the river rock.
Best to try to get rid of the rock first.

Many blessings for your safety and success!

I think the only way putting soil over the top would work is if you made it a raised bed so that you could get enough depth, and whether you could even do that would depend on how much of a drop there is from the house walkway/entrance there. Do you know what is underneath the rocks, are they on bare soil or is there some kind of concrete foundation for example?

sooby said:

I think the only way putting soil over the top would work is if you made it a raised bed so that you could get enough depth, and whether you could even do that would depend on how much of a drop there is from the house walkway/entrance there. Do you know what is underneath the rocks, are they on bare soil or is there some kind of concrete foundation for example?

Hi Sooby,

Thank you for the welcome! Underneath the rocks is bare soil. Do you think its best to just dig up the rocks then?

I would get the rocks out if you can. It looks like a lot of work, but if you don't, you'll probably be fighting with them forever. Someone I know did that and the stones are forever working their way up into the soil. I'm not sure if that would happen in your climate though as much as it does here.