Rocky, trashy soil

HELP! I live in a neighborhood that was built in the '40s. At that time, builders used rocks and trash (literally) as fill. I am constantly picking up broken bottles, shards of glass, and who knows what in my backyard. (I often ask myself why I bother to pick the stuff up.)

There is some St. Augustine, a humongous red oak tree, a large patch of rosemary that I planted as an experiment, and a lot of bare spots that I try to keep covered with mulch. I'd like to create a lot of beds but I'm at a loss. The fill is really deep and I don't know what I can do other than raised beds. I have nothing against raised beds, it's just that my yard is large and raised beds scattered hither and yon would look pretty silly. Plus my oak and 8' tall wood fence, combined with my neighbors' trees keep everything shady except for the center of the yard.

Any advice, suggestions, ideas would be greatly appreciated. (And please tell me if my question should be in a different forum.)

The raised beds in different areas wouldn't look silly if you would establish pathways through and to the areas. Adjust the height of what is growing in the areas to make sense etc... a well placed bench... I think it would look fne. It doesn't have to be really expensive paths... you can do with some edging and pea gravel. Consider a berm or two. My personal dislike of raised beds is the edging that mostly is used (railroad ties) or the 'brick' curved stuff that looks like stucco front (that is what we have) and I just don't like that 'placed' look -- doesn't make it look as natural as I would like. Maybe you could use one of the tall ornamental grasses on one of the berms... I think you could get it to look real good. Sometimes it just feels overwhelming to get started.

It can be overwhelming if you look at the yard as a whole, so don't do that. Concentrate on making one new bed each year- dig it up, remove the trash, and amend. If you are youngish and fit do a large bed, say 10x30, or if you are old and already bent do smaller ones. Berms can help a great deal, too. Most of us have had to do it at one time or another and while it isn't easy it is the right way to do it, and over the long haul you will be glad your beds have a proper soil mix.

I agree with Cear-- that you need to concentrate on one area at a time after a long thought planning. Try lasagna gardening and there is a long and very informative way in the beginners gardening on DG. My gardens are this methods. It can be stressful and overwhelming. Also hire help from church or neighbors, there are lots of unemployed teens or even men. Good luck Belle.

My "new" house came with woods that I found out was a junkyard. Former owners had thrown all kinds of trash along the woods. This is a picture of the first day of pulling stuff out. Most was covered with leaves and privet.
Just keep at it. I wanted to be able to use this area and was disgusted when thinking about all that crap in there. I had to get help to haul it to the dump.

Sad to say, I am still finding glass, cans, plastic bags, etc. When I go into the area after a rain I take a bucket so I can pick up anything the rain has washed up.
BUT, it is SO MUCH BETTER. Take a picture of the "Before" so you can see how much your hard work has accomplished.
This rusted fencing in this picture had privet roots growing through it. I even found a car bumper and a roll of carpet.

Cearbhaill - you gave me a good chuckle!! (when you wrote 'or if you are old and already bent' (I can relate!)

Being mostly old and somewhat bent myself I thought it appropriate :)

I haven't words to explain the joy of going back into a bed five years after it was rehabbed and being able to dig with next to no effort. Only after you experience that joy will you fully understand the need for proper preparation!
The entire key to successful gardening is to "do what needs to be done when it needs to be done the way it needs to be done" and soil preparation is the finest example of this I can name.

""The entire key to successful gardening is to "do what needs to be done when it needs to be done the way it needs to be done" and soil preparation is the finest example of this I can name."" I second that!!

Thanks to all for your advice. I forgot to mention that I had to replace my gas line last year and can say without a doubt that the broken glass, etc, is more than 18" deep. That's a lot to dig and replace.

For those of you who mentioned berms, I've got a question. How does one keep the berm "in place"? Seems like a heavy rain or two could flatten out /wash away the berm, especially while it's new.

I am sure there are many ways to berm but we had mostly clay dumped and then covered it with maybe 8-10 inches of good soil .. saved money on using the good soil all the way through, ended up "firmer"-- it stayed in place no issues and then eventually the plantings anchored it.

Another thing we did was to get the stone wall blocks at Lowes/HomeDepot.. and laid it where we wanted it and backfilled with mix of soil, peat and compost. It is only maybe 16 inches deep and so I needed good stuff to plant in.

On the net you can google 'how to create a berm' you will probably get lots of 'hits'