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The Kitchen Table

What would you do with a large flat rock?

10 years ago

I just got back from having a coffee with a friend. She recently bought a house and had put a small vegetable garden in. She couldn't figure out why there was a bare patch of potatoes, there'd be a bunch of potato plants in her rows then a bald spot, then more potatoes.

She did some digging and found there is a 3'x3' square flat rock, and a couple of feet over, another one. Too big for her to dig out. She named the one Dwayne (for The Rock) and I told her she could call the other one Kid (for Kid Rock). :-)

I suggested that she stick a bird bath on it, but she doesn't want to encourage the birds. She does have a rabbit that is eyeing the garden, but he wasn't interested in the potatoes and tomatoes that she hastily planted last summer. This year will be a full garden.

I thought she could paint it, a grid and play x's and o's, a painted back like a turtle, she thought painting a tablecloth with a place setting (from farm to plate idea). She has a great sense of humour! It's too small for a little bistro table and chairs, plus it's smack dab in the middle of the garden.

She found out that if you plant plastic forks (tines up) beside your rows of vegetables, the rabbits won't eat the growth. So I told her she is growing a 'forden', not just a garden. She had the neighbours wondering if she'd lost her mind when she laid down a bunch of wet newspapers and covered it with black landscape cloth to kill the grass that she didn't want growing. They thought she was a crazy lady. Now they're seeing the fruits of her labours and her idea when she planted hostas and irises, etc. She's really going to get them wondering, if they see rows of planted forks! I told her make sure she offers some to the neighbours when they're 'mature'.

So does anyone have any ideas what you'd do with a flat rock to make it useful?

Featured Answer

ravencajun Zone 8b TX

10 years ago

This would look really neat with a big Rock

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Comments (25)

plllog
10 years ago
Well, for the forks, maybe she needs to make a seed packet to put on a stake in the fork garden, showing a mature silver dinner fork. :)

Are there possibly more of those? Or just the two? It sounds like they were plinths for garden statuary or urns. Would a couple of estate sized urns look cool or just weird? It could possibly be very cool to have some tall planting in urns. :) The table setting idea is cute, but will it look nice when there's dirt/snow/leaves on them?

If just useful, they'd be good places for pots of things like mint which run.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
10 years ago
No ideas for the rocks (yet), but was wondering why she doesn't want to encourage birds.
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Jasdip
Original Author
10 years ago
Plllog the tall urns were the first thing I mentioned. She thought it would look weird, since they're not in a flower bed.

Rhizo, I meant to ask her why she doesn't want birds, I wondered the same thing, but then it slipped my mind. I'll have to find out.
socks
10 years ago
I have no suggestion but have a similar situation about 1' down. It looks to be a large, flat chunk of asphalt, no idea how big it is. I wonder if it was buried there when the asphalt driveway was torn out. I cannot get it out. This year I have groundcover succulents planted over it. Hope your friend can come up with something!
jemdandy
10 years ago
Now I am curious. Could that 'rock' be a hunk of concrete, may a footing for something in the past? If its a concrete slab, it might be breakable. A burly friend might be able to make smaller pieces of it with a sledge hammer. However, if it is more than several inches thick, it would be a challenge.

If it is covered by only a couple of inches of dirt, clean it off and use as a stepping stone. You'd need to rearrange the garden, though.

It could be used as a platform for a garden seat or decoration.
plllog
10 years ago
Thinking further...how far apart are they? Because they might be pads for a gazebo. Or maybe an arch or garden swing.

Re urns, even though they're not the usual thing in vegetable gardens, she has a sense of humor, right? Plant rhubarb in them, or top them with a tall conical tomato cages. Or do a bottom half barrel shape and plant with a medley of lettuces. Or mini-meadows of chives. Chives have pretty purple flowers. :)
ont_gal
10 years ago
if this area is old garden ground from years back,the rocks were most likely used to hold a watering system-that is what we had in our garden years ago for the gravity drive water barrels.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
10 years ago
Paint them with sayings or cute flowers or something like the garden stones you can buy. We did painted rocks at our garden club. I still have several out along the edges of my flower beds. Google painted garden rocks or stones. Glue on those flat glass marbles that are used in vases. I see lots of old bowling balls covered with them in the garden ideas.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
10 years ago
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
10 years ago
This one is from a poster in garden junk.
ghoghunter
10 years ago
If there are a few inches of soil on top she could just add a little more and try growing some of the shallow rooted herbs there..like oregano, basil, thyme etc..they don't have very deep roots and like it hot and dry!

Joann
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
10 years ago
Does this house by any chance have a septic tank or did it ever? That could be the lid of the septic tank, I was trying to plant a few tomato and pepper plants in the bed outside the kitchen window. Some areas were fine but I kept hitting a big Rock in one area and couldn't plant there. Flash forward to when we had to have a company come out to empty the septic tanks. Turns out that big Rock was actually a big piece of concrete, the lid on the septic tank.
threejs
10 years ago
Is her garden big enough to support one of the rain barrels sitting in the middle of it on the rock? Maybe, it would look totally out of place but, some of the newer ones are not that unattractive and would be right there to help water the garden. She wouldn't need a downspout to fill it only use the garden hose once a week or so and it would be less work than dragging the hose through the garden daily. Canadian Tire has a few nice examples on the website.
lily316
10 years ago
A large urn or garden statue of some kin, although who doesn't want to attract birds? I'd like every species to visit my yard, so I'd have an gorgeous birdbath and feeders.
bossyvossy
10 years ago
I don't encourage birds b/c they drop all kinds of seeds I don't want.
bossyvossy
10 years ago
I'm with Raven. Ck that it's not septic lid first.
dandyrandylou
10 years ago
Perhaps your friend doesn't want to encourage birds in her garden because of the seed drop as bossyvossy mentioned or because birds other than song birds would be attracted. Seed drop would also attract squirrels, maybe rabbits, and other small creatures she may not care to share her veggies with. Otherwise certainly herbs and/or flowers could be planted on the rocks as many purposely plant flowers and veggies together in the gardens. To each his own.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
10 years ago
Are they actual outcrop of real rock or human-made?

I love birds in my gardens and do feed them conservatively. Awesome insect eaters.
Jasdip
Original Author
10 years ago
I just heard back from her, and she's loving all of the suggestions!

Plllog she's pretty sure that she's going ahead with the dinner fork/seed packet. That appeals to her quirky sense of humour.

She doesn't want to attract birds because she doesn't want to eat bird-poop-speckled greens. She does want to plant companion plants to deter the bugs.

When she can, she's going to send me a picture of the boulder in question.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
10 years ago
Jasdip did you mention to her about being a septic tank cover? They are often two side by side one smaller than the other. If this is an older house it would be my bet.
Jasdip
Original Author
10 years ago
I did mention the septic tank cover, Raven. She replied that she originally thought that as well and the more she dug, the more she realized that it's just a "bloody big boulder in the middle of what I intend to be my veggie garden."
lucillle
10 years ago
I'd have it pulled upright, and then have the names of my ex husbands engraved on it. They are still alive and don't need headstones, but it would give me plenty of enjoyment.
lindyluwho
10 years ago
LOL at Lucille!
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
10 years ago
Lol that's funny.

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