My rake won’t really pull them and my shovel only scoops a few rocks at a time. I removed a whole bed of red lava rocks by myself and it was easy because those rocks had grip and were lighter. These are horrible to remove. Does anybody have advice on how best to scoop these up? I plan to do this myself and then have somebody haul away my pile. This bed is massive and I could plant so many things here. I’ve already cleared out maybe a 4×4 section of these white rocks and it sucks.
by balcony-gardener
26 Comments
Post on facebook marketplace free rocks and have other people come get them?
Square shovel and some elbow grease.
Use a hoe to scrape them into piles then a shovel into whatever container of your choosing
Bring water
Wheel barrow with a piecing of wire fencing/chicken wire with big enough holes for dirt to fall through, but keep the rocks on top. Scoop em into buckets (kitty litter ones if you have access for a good reuse) and offer them on marketplace for free. This is what I’ve done!
Edit: and honestly, my best method was sitting on the ground, listening to a podcast and scooping with my hands. Its not cute but its the easiest on my back. Id throw the ball for the dog in between and it felt somewhat productive haha
Steel snow shovel that is deep and wide and small plastic pots like you buy plants in that are going to be in 2-5 gallon pots that are cheap/free.
Iron rake to make them loose. Square shovel to move them. Digging fork might be an option instead or in addition to the iron rake.
I cleared a border of those gawdawful “decorative” stones around my whole backyard by using a plastic snow shovel. There will be a bottom layer that’s to dug in. I used a garden rake to pull them up to take them away.
Wide pick mattock and a canvas/tarp. Drag em onto the canvas till it’s a bit too heavy to carry, then act all manly and carry it anyway and get a hernia… you can load em in a wheelbarrow or whatever once canvassed.
Flat shovel and a metal leaf rake. The initial scooping will be good with just the shovel, but as they thin out, you’ll need to make piles. A metal tine leaf rake will pop them out of the dirt and make it much easier to scoop up.
Transfer shovel
I’ve found a concrete come along works pretty well to get it into piles to shovel with a square shovel. Hoe works well in tight areas. I hate removing rocks. There ain’t no easy way that’s for sure and practically impossible to get every last bit.
Sometimes if there is weed barrier or plastic under it you can manage to pull that over sideways to sort of get the rocks into a piles to shovel.
I’m not even really joking, but a sturdy shop vac might do really well with those.
Might not want to do it with a nice one, but you’ll need one with some HP and at least a 5/10 gallon bucket. Don’t use the attachment, just straight up run the hose over then
Neighbors kids.
Tine bow rake works pretty well for dirt mulch rocks. I’ve done way too much of all those.
Embedded rocks often bake into a hard crust with the soil, which is one of the reasons they’re hard to move. I’d suggest watering the area well before using a hard tine rake to loosen them up. Hose them off again and then shovel them up.
A mattocks to break them up and a long handled scoop shovel to scoop them out. Best way I’ve found with my landscape business.
Metal rake?
A pair of high school boys looking for money.
A backhoe
I’d use a hard rake to loosen the rocks and flat shovel to scoop the loose rocks away. Re-rake as needed. Use a regular shovel to loosen the rocks if needed.
You can use a blower to clean the rocks off after loosening. Is there fabric under the rocks? Try not to pierce it if you use a mattock.
I ordered a rock-collecting rake from A.M. Leonard two seasons ago.
Looks like a lacrosse ‘racquet’ but with curved metal tines.
Dirt falls thru, simply empty the basket directly into whatever conveyance you’re using.
If it were me I’d use the backside of a metal rake into a snow shovel.
Shop vacuum.
Loosen with a garden fork then rake into a pile then shovel. Loosen is the key word here get some air between the rock and soil and the rocks will scrape off the top.
Doesn’t always work depending on how set the stones are, but rake into piles and get a shop vac to suck up the rocks. Some shop vacs have a drain plus at the bottom, so if you want to recycle the rocks you can just hose them off in the bottom section of the vacuum…
Or you can just get a screen and shovel them against it to separate dirt from rocks.
One is more costly, but I find it easier for smaller rocks.
You can always dump the shop vac full of pebbles on a screen as well
Comealong or steel toothed rake and a buddy with a flat transfer shovel or scoop shovel. Make piles, one guy scrapes shovel and one guy rakes it onto shovel