I have a love / hate relationship with them.
Here are some rock truths:
They reproduce in the yard and garden. With every replanting of a garden you will find that a whole new family of rocks has surfaced. Maybe it’s the rock gremlins who come in the winter and bury them when no one is looking.
Sometimes they hide out...just waiting for you to approach with the lawn mower or weed whacker. In a battle with a lawn mower or weed whacker the rocks will win. The amount of damage done to either piece of equipment will be directly related to the price of the said equipment.
Rock Gardens are not all they’re cracked up to be. I tried my hand at a ‘Rock Garden’ for several years running. All in all the weeds won. They teamed up with the rocks. You know the little tags you find in plants at the nursery. The ones that say "perfect for rock gardens". Well, you can’t believe everything you read, especially on those clever little tags.
Learn to live with them. Build a rock wall. Never to high, but high enough so that it looks like you planned it. We have heard of folks driving to faraway places to collect rocks to bring home for landscaping purposes. Or worse yet - buying them. We just dig ‘em up but not necessarily on purpose. Rocks can make handy tools. Suppose you want to crack a walnut. Grab a rock. Pound a nail. Grab a rock. Don’t select one of those crumbly slate ones; go for a "rock hard" one. Rocks don’t have the corner on this concept. I once made a dessert that turned out to be strawberry-rhubarb sinkers. They were rock-hard, too.
Some rocks try to get on your good side by becoming ‘thunder eggs’, which just happens to be the Oregon state rock. Idaho doesn’t have an official state rock, but the state stone is star garnet. I think stones are just uppity rocks, possibly with good breeding. Maybe if I keep digging a star garnet will appear in the front yard. Rocks = stones = gems = rubies. Where is my shovel?
