Hi all,
I just moved into a new home that had a 20x26' section in the backyard
that had a swing set on it and I'm trying to convert it into a garden.
It has about 3" of Pea gravel covering the whole thing. I'm wondering
how much of that is safe to leave in the soil and not hurt a vegatable
garden. I live in Illinois and have pretty good soil so I'm worried
that I'll be leaving too much in.I plan on Tilling in anything I can't
get out, into the soil.

PS Any good ideas on how to get all that Gravel out "the easy way" and
not with back breaking labor!!

Thanks for any help!!!

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi all,
I just moved into a new home that had a 20x26' section in the backyard
that had a swing set on it and I'm trying to convert it into a garden.
It has about 3" of Pea gravel covering the whole thing. I'm wondering
how much of that is safe to leave in the soil and not hurt a vegatable
garden. I live in Illinois and have pretty good soil so I'm worried
that I'll be leaving too much in.I plan on Tilling in anything I can't
get out, into the soil.

PS Any good ideas on how to get all that Gravel out "the easy way" and
not with back breaking labor!!

a good bagless heavy duty vacuum cleaner and simply vacuum it up.

rob

yup. a shop vac will suck it up. of course, then you gotta empty that shop vac.
OTOH, the REALLY EASY way to solve this problem is...... make raised beds using 2x4s
and some plastic lining it to keep the soil in, no plastic on the bottom for
drainage. Leave the pea gravel to hold down the weeds. I started with the raised
beds, added the gravel later. http://weloveteaching.com/landscape/gravel/gravel.htm
Ingrid

"George.com" wrote:


wrote in message
roups.com...
Hi all,
I just moved into a new home that had a 20x26' section in the backyard
that had a swing set on it and I'm trying to convert it into a garden.
It has about 3" of Pea gravel covering the whole thing. I'm wondering
how much of that is safe to leave in the soil and not hurt a vegatable
garden. I live in Illinois and have pretty good soil so I'm worried
that I'll be leaving too much in.I plan on Tilling in anything I can't
get out, into the soil.

PS Any good ideas on how to get all that Gravel out "the easy way" and
not with back breaking labor!!

a good bagless heavy duty vacuum cleaner and simply vacuum it up.

rob




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Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan

20' x 26' x 0.25' = 130 cubic feet = 975 gallons = 6.5 tons of pea gravel.
Add more weight for the soil which will get vacuumed along with the
gravel. That's a lot of vacuuming, a lot of weight, and a lot of emptying of
a shop vac.

==========================

George.com wrote
a good bagless heavy duty vacuum cleaner and simply vacuum it up.

"Gideon" wrote in message
. ..
20' x 26' x 0.25' = 130 cubic feet = 975 gallons = 6.5 tons of pea gravel.
Add more weight for the soil which will get vacuumed along with the
gravel. That's a lot of vacuuming, a lot of weight, and a lot of emptying
of
a shop vac.

==========================

George.com wrote
a good bagless heavy duty vacuum cleaner and simply vacuum it up.

I don't deny it may be some vacuuming. Clearing the bulk of it with a shovel
and wheel barrow is obviously what needs to be done however the scrapings
can be vacuumed up. I don't mean with a ****y little household vacuum. I was
thinking industrial or at least a wet n dry. It is one part of a tool kit
for removing the gravel.

rob

Remove as much of the pea gravel as possible. Stones and gravel
in garden soil are a waste of valuable space, assuming that they
are not part of a well designed drainage system which is well below
the cultivation zone of the garden. Ideally, the inorganic material
in your garden should all be in the 0.1 to 2.0 mm range. Pea gravel
(a loosely defined term!) is in the range of 4 to 18 mm (1/8" to 3/4").
Every piece that you remove improves your garden quality.

I need many tons of pea gravel for some projects and I am certain that
there is somebody in your area who is like me: Willing to come out with
a truck, some helpers, wheel barrels, screens and shovels. I'd gladly
screen and haul away that much free pea gravel. Every summer. Forever.

You should find somebody who wants the free gravel. Then stand back
and watch the other guy and his crew remove the problem gravel for free.
If you are nice, offer them some of the lemonade that you are sipping.

After you gets rid of that 3" layer of pea gravel, you should import 3" or
more of good organic matter and possibly some gypsum to augment
the existing soil. I know that you said that you have "good soil", but
it is extremely rare to find any soil that isn't worthy of improvement.
Is there such as thing as soil which is "too good"?

Personally, I believe that one will almost always reap the benefit
of any soil improvement in the very first year of gardening. If it were
my garden plot, I'd add about 38 cf of Sphagnum, 100 cf (or more)
of compost, and some gypsum if the soil has many fines (clay).

If money is an issue, then just add compost. Municipal compost is
very adequate. Yes, I'll hear opposing views on that statement.

If money is a very big issue, then add a smaller quantity of compost
and start producing your own today.

Of course, I'm a fanatic at times. I'd pull some random 1 foot deep plugs
of soil and perform my own Emerson Test on each strata of existing soil
to determine exactly what the soil composition is at each strata. And
pH testing is equally important and easy to perform. Why guess?

Remember: Gardening is fun with good soil. Gardening is work with
average soil. Gardening is a pain in the ass with poor soil.

Good luck,
Gideon

"Gideon" wrote in message
.. .
Remove as much of the pea gravel as possible. Stones and gravel
in garden soil are a waste of valuable space, assuming that they
are not part of a well designed drainage system which is well below
the cultivation zone of the garden. Ideally, the inorganic material
in your garden should all be in the 0.1 to 2.0 mm range. Pea gravel
(a loosely defined term!) is in the range of 4 to 18 mm (1/8" to 3/4").
Every piece that you remove improves your garden quality.

I need many tons of pea gravel for some projects and I am certain that
there is somebody in your area who is like me: Willing to come out with
a truck, some helpers, wheel barrels, screens and shovels. I'd gladly
screen and haul away that much free pea gravel. Every summer. Forever.

You should find somebody who wants the free gravel. Then stand back
and watch the other guy and his crew remove the problem gravel for free.
If you are nice, offer them some of the lemonade that you are sipping.

damned good advice Gideon, top stuff. Give it away to someone prepared to do
the work

rob

wrote:

PS Any good ideas on how to get all that Gravel out "the easy way" and
not with back breaking labor!!

A screed made of hardware cloth and a wood frame does a good job of
separating out dirt from stones. Breaks up the soil real nicely as well.

I've got one in each 1/4 and 1/8 inch mesh hardware cloth, makes
reasonably short work of sifting dirt. Still have to dig it up, and dump
it on the screed and shake it. Making your screed big enough to stand on
your wheelbarrow and your set to go.


--
If I had something to say, this is where I'd say it.

George.com wrote
damned good advice Gideon, top stuff. Give it away to someone
prepared to do the work

================

Thanks.

It is amazing what you can get for free (or get rid of for free) when
the right two people connect. Last summer my son and I obtained
enough free 2' x 2' patio pavers to do a very large patio in our back
yard. A neighbor tore out a patio and lamented that it was going
to cost him a fortune to have the pavers hauled away. He lives a
few hundred feet away from me and it is all downhill sidewalks from
his home to mine. My son & I got a light workout, my neighbor got
rid of a problem, and I got a free patio.

My son and I donate our help to several widows on our street. Two
of those ladies purchase many large potted annuals each Spring.
One of them buys at least 40 pots. Helping them haul out trash,
we quickly became aware a few years ago that all of those dead
plants and their potting soil were being tossed in the trash each fall.
We quickly began hauling those dying plants, rootballs, and sphagnum-
loaded potting soil, along with grass clippings & leaves, to our
compost piles. Everybody is happy.

I'm so happy that I'm currently talking with the plant manager for a local
store. This fall I may be showing up with a truck to help this retailer
dispose of 100's of annuals which didn't sell. Free labor for the store; free
blend of compost and potting soil for me.

Every autumn I have at least one neighbor who mows and bags a
nice blend of grass and fallen leaves, and then thanks me profusely
when I allow him or her to haul the stuff over to my yard and toss it
on top of my compost pile. I'm such a nice neighbor.

On 4 May 2006 17:28:13 -0700, wrote:

Hi all,
I just moved into a new home that had a 20x26' section in the backyard
that had a swing set on it and I'm trying to convert it into a garden.
It has about 3" of Pea gravel covering the whole thing. I'm wondering
how much of that is safe to leave in the soil and not hurt a vegatable
garden. I live in Illinois and have pretty good soil so I'm worried
that I'll be leaving too much in.I plan on Tilling in anything I can't
get out, into the soil.

PS Any good ideas on how to get all that Gravel out "the easy way" and
not with back breaking labor!!

Thanks for any help!!!

Could you advertise locally for someone who WANTS the pea gravel
and can scoop it out for free rather than buying at homeowners' place.
Just a thought...

It has about 3" of Pea gravel covering the whole thing. I'm wondering
how much of that is safe to leave in the soil and not hurt a vegatable

If you intend to double dig, you can certainly work that much pea gravel in,
if you're not already on gravelly soil. (I'd guess clay-loam in a good part
of IL.)

If you've got fenceline, just scoop it into buckets and add it along the fence
to stop the need for most trimming. Or along the house.

Some good sized shopvacs can handle pea gravel if you're intent on getting it
all out of there... shovel most out, follow up with the shopvac.

shop vac.

Persephone wrote:

On 4 May 2006 17:28:13 -0700, wrote:
PS Any good ideas on how to get all that Gravel out "the easy way" and
not with back breaking labor!!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List at
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/
sign up: http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?...s=Group+lookup
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I receive no compensation for running the Puregold list or Puregold website.
I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan

Pay kids to remove it.

On Mon, 23 Oct 2006 14:23:17 GMT, wrote:

shop vac.

Persephone wrote:

On 4 May 2006 17:28:13 -0700, wrote:
PS Any good ideas on how to get all that Gravel out "the easy way" and
not with back breaking labor!!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List at
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/
sign up: http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?...s=Group+lookup
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~
I receive no compensation for running the Puregold list or Puregold website.
I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan

LOL =) I think a simple vacuum will do the trick!

replying to a_adelmann, Lynn parris wrote:
how to get rid of pea gravel used for a pond

--
for full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/garden...vel-50799-.htm