Just look at al lthe beautiful pictures these gardeners here post..that is the light at the end of the tunnel..or should I say sore muscles? :)

Remember..nothing worth having comes easy....you will value this more when it is beautiful because of where you came from to get there..good luck

it's like childbirth, a couple of years down the road you will walk around your garden, admire the beauty and barely remember the pain from this period in time!!

it sounds as though you have made great progress in your garden endevour so far, pace yourself and keep up the good work! one of the things that i find really helps me when i face a daunting task is to keep a photo journal. it is quite satisfying to be able to compare the before pictures to the current ones. sometimes that's the only way i can really appreciate just how far my garden has come.

:) jiggreen

Thanks. The photos here are encouraging and I am taking a few pictures (when I remember) as I go along. The comparison to childbirth does seem apt. I am really looking forward to when I can start planting in the fall and a few years past that when things start looking lush.

In a weird way this stage is kind of fun, but those rocks are starting to get to me and I so very much want to be nurturing plants and enjoying flowers.

badtoad,

DO take photos...one of the funnest things for me is to look back on "how crappy this place was when we bought it". It is SOOOOO rewarding to recount all of this hard work when it's done.

Rene

Your post brings back memories. This is my first home and when we moved in the yard was a disaster. Over grown weeds, ugly junipers, dead plants, and I found gravel buried 2" deep in various spots.

It was so overwhelming I decided to do one bed at a time. It's taken me 3 years and well worth it.....I'm seeing results. Many trial and errors but it's been so much fun and I've learned so much.

I agree with jiggreen, take pictures, you'll be amazed at the transformation down the road.

Happy gardening :-) Edna

That's a lot of work but at least you can get (most of) those rocks out of there. When I started digging my pond we found the old septic tank. There hadn't been septic here in more than 10 years. We're pretty sure that you are supposed to destroy and fill in the tank when you stop using it. Oh well, at least we could work around it. Too bad you are so far away. I'd love to have some of those rocks for my pond. Like everyone else I am looking forward to some B/A pictures.

Badtoad, you can do this! Just take baby steps, and if there is any area of your yard that you can begin planting in now, do so. It helps to have one small spot that you can look at and think how pretty it is etc. Make that spot your own - even while you're digging up rocks and cutting down bushes in the rest.

I can tell you that's what I did - and it worked for me. We moved into our first home 4 years ago. 2-3 weeks after we moved in our septic tank broke and they had to dig up our whole back yard to replace pipes etc. When they were done our backyard was covered in rocks, gravel, ruts. We had to rake all that &*^$%# rock up before we could start over. I wanted to cry. I was so TICKED OFF! That first summer we didn't get much accomplished. But I took the hell strip between our house and patio and started planting in it so that I had a pretty area to look at while we slowly worked at fixing the rest. Now, 4 years later, my garden is LUSH.

If you'd like to see some before and after pictures - let me know and I'll post some over on the gallery.

Hang in there - it's worth it!
fiwa

I agree with Lady pennywort...make a pretty area so that you have something to admire while you haul those rocks.
Reward yourself too. If I have a very hard day in garden--
I treat myself to something. In can be simple but it keeps you motivated. You can do this!!!!!
Gigi

You ladies are the best!! I would love to see some before and after pics to help keep me going.

I like the advice to make a pretty area. I have a bed that is almost ready. It's late in the season, but I could probably plant some annuals in them to enjoy right now. It would be nice change of pace to actually plant something.

Ugh. Digging out buried rocks is just no fun. If it is really getting you down, would it be possible to hire it done, or maybe rent a mini-excavator or small back-hoe? I have heard from friends, that used to live in Berkeley, that hiring people in CA to do a job like that can be hit or miss, but it might be worth looking into. You might try calling a rental place and tell them what you need done. They probably would be able to suggest something that would make your life a lot easier for maybe $200 a day, give or take a little.

Good luck, and my compliments on all the hard work you have already done.

ThinMan

Oh badtoad - I know that it is hard, but so worth it!! I bought my home 11 years ago, and slowly, removing a little grass at a time, created my cottage garden. I loved it. Then in 2000, my Mum was coming to live with me, so I had to add onto my little cottage. Part of that reno was an updated septic, which was, you guessed, under my perfect little garden. When the septic guys came out, I said please mark where you will destroy, and I will move all of the plants. I spent all of July trying to damage proof the garden. In September, they finally came and did the job. I forgot that soil takes time to compact back down, and I ended up with a hill of crud onto of the orange daylilies. I cried. Then I thought, hmmmm....I can always get more ditch lilies - maybe I can create a berm garden!!! I was encouraged. I told them to leave the soil(I hestitate to call it this, because it was sand and clay from 20' below grade) where it was, I would handle it myself. When I got home that night from work, they had spread it evenly over the whole garden. I started crying. they had covered the iris, my beloved peonies, the rhubarb, everything with 6" to 8" of this crud. They had covered my cobble paths. It was all gone. I mixed a stiff drink, and kept crying. It had been raining so much at this point, it was like soup - too heavy to move. Since my mother was coming, I was too busy to do much else, so I prayed for early snow, so that I wouldn't have to look at it all. Come Spring, I started crying again. I would go out and stand in the middle of what used to be my garden and stare. I could not get past it. Then one day, one of my neighbours put a box of divisions on the fence post. That was all I needed. God Bless her, she got me going again, and now, when people look at my garden, they think that I have exagerated what happen.

Sorry that was so long, but just had to share. The beauty will come. Go to the gallery, you'll find some pics of my garden.

Regards, Nancy.

Nancy, your story almost made ME cry. Do people not have eyes?