I talked to my husband when he got home from work last night. We're not using any of those bags of soil. We're using all native soil. We've also decided to plant these trees over 2 days. He works second shift so we don't have all day to do it. He's just going to dig a hole in a part of our yard and then when he's done with it will fill it with some topsoil or something. Funny that someone brought up a tiller. We already tried that idea. Well, sort of. We tried to rent one from Home Depot earlier this week, and they said we couldn't rent it yet because it's too muddy outside and they don't want any mud getting on the machine. We told the guy we would never return the machine with any mud on it but he insisted no one can rent the tiller yet. If all we were doing was planting trees it would be one thing but once we plant we are committed to putting up vole fencing around it. We've already got all the poles put up. Where we are planting we can see vole trails everywhere. Not to mention we also have to stake these trees (I stake every tree I plant for 2 seasons) because they are going to be in the prevailing wind section of our yard. The trunks and branches on these 2 foot European Hornbeam fastigiatas are so tiny! They look like they could snap right off. I smiled to myself this morning when I re-read my original post. I was completely panicked when I wrote it. I'm calm about it now. We're planting half today and staking and fencing them, and then the other half tomorrow on his day off. It'll be fine. I see people on videos all the time dig a hole to plant a tree and put the dirt back in and have enough to backfill, but we never do. And we put every bit of dirt we dig out of the hole on a tarp so as not to lose any of it but we still don't have enough.

Hi growtucsonroses I wish you would of put down where in Az you live but by going by your name I get the feeling you live in Tucson. I moved into my new home in August 08 here in Lake Havasu City and it is really, really hot here in Aug, Tucson is a little cooler then here. I dug up 10 roses and 2 standard tree roses and brought them with me when it was 115F. I knew the local nursery in my area and they gave me a bunch of the black buckets to put my rose bushes in. I see your weather is in the upper 80's until Thursday and then lower 90's. I would dig them up put them in the black nursey pots as moroseaz said you might have to pay for them, keep them watered that is the most important thing. When I moved, I cut them back a little not alot, and kept them in the pots until the weather was cool then planted them, they are thriving now. I would move them as soon as possible before it gets to hot, and keep them watered they should be fine, but I would do it ASAP. I would take the advice of Kathy9norcal and moroseaz. We live in this zone and know what it takes to move roses and keep them alive in this hot zone. You can either re-plant them or keep them in the pots until october when it is cooler they will grow fine in the pots all summer. As Kathy said provide shade and filtered sun until they start to regrow and lots of water, Once they start to regrow and if you decide to leave them in the pots put them in a place where there is sun in the morning and shade in the afternoon. When I moved as I said I kept my roses in the pots for sometime, about 3 months in the black pots and they are thriving now. Keep them out of the wind. So you have 2 options move them now and plant them right away which is probably what I would do or leave them in the pots until summer is over they will be fine in the pots until october as long as they are getting plenty of water. Good luck let us know, but I would not leave them. Carrie

Let me forward this by providing a perspective -- I am the head of a landscape committe for a homeowner's assn. in colorado, with nearly 5 acres of partly-wooded property + multifamily dwellings. Everything we do is under CONSTANT scrutiny, and we have a miniscule budget to accomplish virtual miracles. So wherever possible we recycle, mulch, reuse, and no-till because we don't have the money to do it any other way. That said, there is ALWAYS a reason to try new things when it comes to gardening. Last spring our major project was to convert and area that USED to have several mature trees (some spruce, some probably elm). They were cut down by the previous mgmt. in 2000, chipped in place without removing the stumps or any roots, the ground covered with plastic landscape film, and the chips laid on top. All in 24 hours (long story). From that point forward, every year the landscaping contractor would deliver a load of fresh chips, spread them on top of the old chips, and charge $$ for the services rendered. I found this out AFTER agreeing to do the project, and after excavating the entire 1500 sf of what had been characterized as "old flower beds". Ha ha on us, I guess. Using nothing more than shovels, spadeforks, and a few axes, we had to shovel back the layers of chips, peel back the MULTIPLE layers of plastic landscape film, dig down up to 3 feet deep to remove some partly decayed but fairly massive stumps and roots, mix the removed bentonite clay soil with the mostly decayed chips plus some donated horse manure, and regrade the entire mess into nice looking raised planting beds for roses and companion plants. The digging went on for 3 months, 20 hours a week, 2-3 people at a time. So by the end of this process you could say we had pretty well "tilled" the soil. Everything was planted in raised beds, with dry-laid rock walls surrounding, because this IS colorado and it is very dry. Nothing here (this property) gets more than 1" of artificial irrigation a week. I found only 2 problems with the soil this year. Although the chips provided a fantastic amount of carbon and organic matter, the soil was relatively nitrogen-poor (I expect that to improve over time). The other problem is that the raised beds sunk almost a foot after being constructed, probably because of a combination of natural settling and hastened decomp in the wood chips after all that aeration. This fall I added a good bit of chopped leaves and composted manure to the top level. Partly for reasons of water conservation, we do not pull out annuals here -- just cut them down and lay the chopped up plant right back on the soil where it grew. We don't plant anything that isn't ok for self-sowing, so that works for us. On the plus side, we got rid of a huge eyesore and several furlongs of plastic landscape film. Hooray. If I had been able to use a tiller, I would have, but the tree roots were in the way. The tree roots had to come out for other reasons not directly related to gardening -- we cannot allow decaying wood anywhere within 20' of a building because of the pervasive termite problems.

OOOH!!! You must be having a ball ! Couple of tips before they drywall. Over every main floor cold air return see if they can install built-in cabinetry. I found a huge space in the master bedrm foyer over the cold air return which ducted down to the unit under the house. That space would have been covered and wasted but is now two cabinets (one on top of the other) for blankets or spare quilt on the bottom and our carry on luggage in the top cabinet. Opened another shelving unit in the master bath that would have been blank wall. Now it is a hamper area below and nice open shelving on top. If bldr hasn't put in cabinetry yet to master vanities, have him put an outlet back there in the wall that will line up with your drawers or your open area below. That way, your hairdryer is always plugged in and ready. It's also helpful in any other bathrooms. Rather than plug in your hairdryer or curling iron etc. in the wall outlet and have the cord dragging all your stuff off the counter..this way works great! It is cheaper to add outlets now during the build. Put them everywhere. Fergit code.. think about use or you'll only have one every 6' or so. You'll want extras on the porch so you can keep foods warm, make a pot of coffee outdoors. They'll probably be the covered exterior type outlets. I had a cable outlet and two phone jacks out there on the porch too. Is your main gathering room (den/greatroom) set in your mind as far as furniture placement? If so, you might want to consider having floor outlets..you know the kind with the brass round covers flush with the floor. (if you're going with hw floors) That way you can be more creative with furniture placement and tables for lamps. Are you having it pre-plumbed for central vacuum? If so, be sure there's an outlet within 5' of the vac tube opening. And, look into the sweep-to pans. I had mine put in after construction when I was sure where drafts pushed the dog hair/dust to collect. They can't be installed on just any wall because of the anchor 2x4 but they work great in the base of cabinets. A hose tap on every side of the house and one close to the driveway (washing the car of pine and oak pollen). Wow..you do have some pines. Have you taken soil samples all around the yard yet? While they're moving soil still you could have them build you a rise or a slight berm if you like Mediterranean type plants that like less water on their roots. Will you have lighting up the driveway or reflectors on the pines? Can't you just envision that long treelined driveway bounded by flowering shrubs? Thanks for the link to your photos.