We've hauled rocks, bagged wood shavings, potted plants, scrap lumber in our car or van lots of times over the years. Just used a tarp or plastic bags to keep it clean. The horse manure is another thing altho if you double bag and place on a tarp you might be OK. Not sure of that one.

Otherwise maybe you could find a friend with a pick-up. Offer to bake them some cookies or something in exchange. :-)

I actually bought an old used truck this weekend. I'd highly recommend it!

It doesn't have any heat and the tailgate is busted but it was cheap and I can use it to get back and forth from work as well as to procure OPBLs, compost, and mulch. :)

I consider my 20 y.o. pick-up one of my most valued gardening accessories. I wouldn't be without one. It is also pretty decent day to day transportation, although maybe not the most economical of vehicles.

ps - you'd be amazed at the 'friends' you will discover once you have a pick-up.......bartering services in return for the use of the vehicle is another bonus.

I'd look out for a small trailer you could pull with your car. I drive a Jimmy and pull a trailer if I have to haul stuff. It's lower to the ground than a pick-em up truck, and if I am pressed for time, I don't have to unload it, just unhook and drive away.

Having said that, I do have the grain truck if I wanna haul something bigger.

Lloyd

I've considered a 20yo truck for just this purpose. My wife thinks I'm crazy an enthusiast for hauling horse manure in the back of the mini van. I took out the back seat and put down a tarp and filled 7 18gal and bigger rubber maid totes.

If I had a dollar for everytime I have said, "I need a truck" I would have enough money to buy a truck. I have a manure source, a leave source and some really good old woodchips that have been sitting 3 years and have turned into this wonderful dirt....but I need a dang truck!!! I have decided when it warms back up, I am renting a uhaul pickup for a day. The problem, all that loading and unloading takes time...so it may have to be a 2 or 3 day rental. And a trip to the Dr. afterwards for sore arms from shoveling!

I went through this dilemma as well. Add up insurance, tax, vehicle cost, tires, gas etc. for an annual estimate. And then see how much it costs to hire some guy with a dump truck for a few trips.

Sort of like firewood. I can get a winter supply of 6 cords delivered here for less than the annual insurance and tax on a 10 yr old truck.

1995 Honda Accord does have a few tears in the back seat ceiling cloth from hauling potted fruit trees, however.

Last year I got rear ended and their insurance paid for a rental car....And YES, I GOT A BIG OLE TRUCK...yes I sure did...I made every minute count with it. Of course I had it for a week, but I made a half dozen trips to the Ag Center for loads of free composted material.

The daily rental fee was only like $40. I'd say you could get some help to unload and then make a day of it and get as many loads as you can in the day or two you are renting the truck?

another option is to find a local hauling company (someone who had a dump truck) I got a guy to deliver a load of that same wonderful compost for $50!!! Best $50 I ever spent, he dumped 14 yards of pure BLACK GOLD...

I have a pickup truck but it took too long to unload. I found a 6' x 10' dump trailer for a very good price. The cost to maintain it is very very low and it makes hauling 5 cu. yds. of manure at a time a breeze; just push a button and it dumps it right into the garden. I put 50 cu. yds. of well composted horse manure into the garden this fall/winter all for free. There are even smaller dump trailers that you can pull with a car if you don't have a truck to pull it with.

"Last year I got rear ended and their insurance paid for a rental car....And YES, I GOT A BIG OLE TRUCK"

hmmmmm...you might be a compost wacko!

auntyara, a neighbor once loaded his 18' trailer with mulch for me;
I forget what he charged, but it wasn't a whole bunch.

I'd feel funny about asking someone to "trade" in a situation like this;
gas & time & wear-&-tear on the vehicle, etc.

I wouldn't want a neighbor or friend to feel like I was asking for more than I was offering.

(anyone ever see this bumper sticker for pick-up trucks?
"Yes, This Is My Truck.
No, I Will Not Help You Move.")

& even if you don't have a likely neighbor, I bet you could find a worker at at least one of those places who would deliver you a load of whatever for some small fee.

You can fit eight extra large trash bags of veggie and fruit wastes in a subcompact hatchback! And it takes two days to put it in my seven compost piles.

I'm glad I don't have a big pickup truck.

Honda Civic owner