We live in the desert. The previous house owner had the back yard landscaped with a plastic layer on top of levelled sand and then 2-3 inches of rock on top. Rock size 1-2 inches across. The wind blows the sand onto the rocks and weeds often break through the plastic, or even just grow in small pockets of sand on top of the plastic. I've no idea why proper weed barrier wasn't used.
My question is how to get rid of at least some of the sand? We've something like 5000 sqft to deal with so sieving by hand is going to be backbreaking (dig, pile onto a small aperture chicken wire mesh, replace).
I wondered about a leaf blower that has a vacuum and bag. I've never even used a leaf blower, let alone tried it with sand - picking up the sand while leaving rocks.
Any other solutions welcomed. Ultimately it'll be a major plant hire and done properly but we can't afford that right now.