I havent bought trees here so I don't have any advice for you on that.
I have bought a similar soil from Santa Fe Sand and Gravel and they are a bit less per yard ($29.95) but have you found out what the delivery charges are? Gas prices are high and so are delivery charges. Santa Fe Sand is generally lower than Pioneer and other places closer to the south suburbs. Where do you live?
Depending on your location and your needs, have you thought about going on craigslist and asking for leaves, manure and other natural stuff to amend your soil with? It is often free and if you hot-compost the manure you dont need to worry about weed seeds.
Also, at least once a week there is someone posting on Craigslist about river rock or other landscaping product they are giving away for free. You do have to show up with a shovel and a truck though.
I know Singcharlene has been very successful with gathering amendments from neighbors and using the lasagna gardening method. I have tried that for the first time this year and Im looking forward to fertile veggie beds.
I hope that helps a little, welcome to Colorado. :)
Btw, what part of Eastern WA are you from? I grew up in Western WA but have family spread throughout Moses Lake, Spokane and Walla Walla.

Here is a link that might be useful: Santa Fe Sand & Gravel

Hi,

Thanks for the welcome. I'm in Longmont, originally from outside of Yakima.

I have 3 8x4 raised beds to fill up. I want to do an ammended version of square foot gardening because buying vermiculite and the like by bag would be nuts.

As for rock, that's so cheap here. I guess we have a trade off, cheap rock vs cheap trees. I would have rather had the cheap trees to be honest :)

If any of you have a tax I.D. you might want to snuggle up to the crew at Alameda Nursery, Dartmouth, just east of Federal, but don't use my name.

Here is a link that might be useful: Propagating Perennials

Poppy, For trees at a decent price I have never been disappointed with Lowes. Granted they are smaller, but at $20 each a good buy. In CO I think it is wiser to go with smaller as they get established faster. Two years ago I bought 10 ft. tall from Lowes for the front yard and another of the same from a nursery for $500 (plus planting) which had double the girth. They are both in the same area and are now equal sizes. Two red maples and curly willows from Lowes that were planted in the back yard the same year have doubled their size. Home depot trees and plants have not fared as well in the past, so I don't buy there. Lowes also has a broader range of selections for all.

Wait until the stores get their stock in, which should be soon, and you will have a wealth of trees to select from. And anyone can smack me for not buying at private nurseries, but they are far too expensive at my end.

Lasgna gardening is great. I did this in the front yard during the spring. Guess it should be done in the fall, but worked great for me. I pulled out half the lawn and dumped it upside down, then layered with paper and mulch on top. The grass died under the layers. Planted all immediately rather than waiting and everything has grown like weeds...without weeds. I think the paper helped retain moisture early on which benefited the spring planting.

Hopefully we will have good spring rains for your gardening. Moving from a state filled with forest and rapid growing habitat has to be a big change for you.

I've lost the link, but I read an article that said it's better in the long run to buy smaller trees. The larger trees have the advantage of being a large tree right away, but they tend to suffer more in the transplanting process and more of them die early. A smaller tree generally recovers faster and after a few years catches up to the large tree in size. I think the tree that starts out smaller ends up larger at a certain point.

I totally agree re smaller trees doing better. There are all kinds of sources on the web for bare root trees, and they do the best of all. They spend the first two growing seasons establishing their root system, and then take off.

You need a bit more than a tax ID to get friendly with the guys at Alameda Nursery. Business license, DBA name registration, etc.

I am sitting here looking at their 2008 price book, and I have to tell you that the only thing in it that really is cheap is the aspen. They have too many issues for me to install them anywhere in the metro area, but there is a guy on Craigslist selling 4 ft aspens for $25.

Forgot. If you aren't fussy about wanting colored mulch, Mountain High Tree in Lakewood last year charged $15 a yard for natural or fines, and $65 for delivery. Haven't ordered yet this year. Unlike the stuff you get from some tree pruners, this was nice and clean, debris free, and in the places I used it, so far, has been weed free.

Thanks for thee great info everybody!

I like supporting local business as well instead of the big box stores but I bristle at the high mark up they have here, around 110%(we bought our Aspens from a grower that ships to Colorado so we know the going rate).

I will definately check out Lowes and Home Depot for trees. I bought 3 fruit trees from HD, a scary first for me. I can put one more tree in, we're not allowed to screen our yards off with trees in my HOA so I'll probably splurge on a larger pine for some much needed privacy.

Have you thought about joining the Arbor Day Foundation? For 10.00 you get 10 free trees... I'm sure they are small, but they even have Colorado Blue Spruce among the list of trees. It's just a thought.

glo

Here is a link that might be useful: Arbor Day Foundation

Poppyhead - where do you live. I am east of Springs. There are several places I can get reasonable trees around here. The best, but unfortunatly not an option for you, is throught the Double El Soil Conservation District. They sell trees that were raised by the forestry dept in batcher of thirty of fifty, but you have to be a landowner (measured in acres). They do dometimes have leftovers they sell. The also sell singles in 2 and 5 gal pots. The second option is roadside vendors. There is a guy that sets up in Falcon on weekends and in Calhan on Mondays in season. He usually has decent prices for his trees. Last option it the auctions. Sometimes people will bring in extra trees that they ordered from the Forestry Dept and did not get planted. I bought some pondy pines that way.

Good luck
Billie

Here is a link that might be useful: Forest Dept plants available

Thanks Billie and Glo!

Unfortunately I can only have a limited amount of trees in my backyard, thanks to the HOA. We have 4 foot fences and are very exposed to the neighbors and the street so I have to buy bigger to get a little bit of privacy this summer.

My landscape plan is currently under review with the 4 trees I picked initially so I have to stick with what I got.

Thanks again!

At last, something I know about: cheap gardening.
Yes, it's true, small trees actually surpass large after a few years, so it does not make sense to pay for the larger ones.

Denver and the tree people do a cheap tree sale in the spring; I bought one last year for $65, a 6' Redbud. Longmont might have something similar.

It's true about Craigslist; people give away everything you would want, from river rock to manure. Especially "fill dirt" that's always in there. Mix with free manure (see below) and your own compost and you're all set. All you need is a truck. Just click on "free." I'm in the process of widening my drive-way with about $200 worth of free lovely round rock gravel.

Every spring the City of Denver gives away free mulch, all you want. It's from Christmas trees. Check your city's solid waste department website for this. At the Denver site, if you bring an open pickup truck (and a way to cover it) they even load it for you. What could be better? I got a load last year--great stuff. Also very cheap excellent compost. It's only one day a year and I'm thinking May 3 this year.

Through Craigslist I found a fantastic source of free aged horse manure south of Denver. I bet there's lots of places up there like that. Lovely stuff. Just call the stables, alpaca or sheep farms, places like that.

And don't forget the upcoming swap!

Autodidact, do you know if they would be okay with me putting some mulch in plastic containers with lids in the back of my Honda CRV? Do they care if I dont live in Denver?
Douglas county has free mulch at the park near my house after Christmas but I think its all gone now. I need to smother some crabgrass creeping in from the greenbelt.
Thank you for the cheap gardening ideas!!
Poppyhead, good luck with the HOA approval board. I cant wait until the day I buy a house and yard where I don't have to deal with that BS.

When I was looking for the house I'm in now, one of the conditions for me to even look at a house was that there was no HOA! I've got my own visions!

Skybird

shadyplaces, then some things have changed at Alameda. You always tell when the retail trade was shopping for plants. I used to buy my aspen, firs, and pines from a digger that went to the mountains of Southern CO, but he knew how to dig. 4 aspen for $25 seems way to cheap for good roots besides I always got multiple stems. I'd be leery at that price. I also would buy my Christmas trees, douglas firs, from guys selling them off the back of pickups and I'd take them to someone's house that would flock them for me fairly inexpensively I might ad.

Here is a link that might be useful: Propagating Perennials

Something I was told by someone here last year (don't remember who, sorry) was that in the back of the phone book there are coupons for the nurseries. In Dex they are in the yellow pages near the ads, but in the Yellow Book, the coupons are in the very back. I found coupons from 10-25% savings.

On the manure track, once again, get friendly with local farmers. If they have a barn or stalls, most are more than happy to let you haul off manure. A few years back, I asked a neighboring rancher for some manure from his barn. He loaded it with his tractor and brought it over. Really nice people, just try to catch them not in the field.

Billie

azura: You can load all you want in trash bins, closed bed pickup truck, they don't care. You dig, you carry. I don't remember anyone asking where I was from or anything like that, but their website says Denver residents. :(
Tell you what, though, where do you need it to go? You could come with me and then take it from there. I put the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Denver solid waste management mulch giveaway

Hey, I found the link for all the Colorado Springsians (Springers?) See below

Billie

Here is a link that might be useful: Colorado Springs Mulch

Poppyhead, welcome to CO - I think the city of Fort Collins also have the free mulch - I'm just starting to check into it this year.

Yeah, high cost of gardening goes along with everything else. We moved here from NC from Texas and talk about shock!

Hi, and welcome to the Inter-Mountain West. For trees you may want to check out Fossil Creek Nursery on Route 287, just as you approach the south suburbs of Fort Collins. From now through April they have bare root trees for sale at a price much reduced from containterized or balled and burlaped trees. Dig your planting hole, put a mound of soil in the center and spread the roots of the bare root tree (or other plant) over the mound and backfill the hole. Do no soil amendment other than adding about 1/3rd volume of compost to the soil you removed when digging the hole. After backfilling use the remainder of the soil/compost mix to form a saucer around the edge of the hole to direct irrigation water around the newly forming root system Stake the tree against the wind for at least the first season while new roots are forming. If you're interested (as a new gardener in Colorado), I'm giving two talks at the Boulder Co. Fairgrounds in Longmont on the next two Tuesday evenings (7 PM). The talk next Tuesday is on Ornamental Vines for Colorado Front Range Gardens and the following week it is on Ornamental Grasses. The talks are being given as a benefit fundraiser for the Longs Peak Barbershop Chorus so the $10/class fee is paid directly to the Chorus, not to me. There are posters in various garden centers around town (Flower Bin G.C. for instance) giving the details.

I just checked Craigslist for Colorado Springs, under "FREE STUFF". Someone is giving away 4 .....7' & 8' pine trees, YOU DIG! Anyone interested?

poppyhead: The Tree Farm is not cheap but I have purchased quite a few trees and shrubs from them and their quality is great. Wait until the end of summer sale! They have a buy one, get the second for 50 cents or something close to that. And, you don't have to buy exactly the same thing. It applies to shrubs/trees that are the same price. I always wait until then to make any big purchases.

A wonderful small nursery with an amazing plant selection is Ute Trail Greenhouse between Longmont and Lyons. It's right on Hwy 66 on the north side. I get lost in there at least twice a year. They don't have a huge tree selection, but they have some. They have sales twice a year and it's worth it to get on their mailing list. They are really nice people too.

I second the recommendation for the Arbor Day Foundation if you don't mind getting small trees. Their prices are excellent and I think the trees are grown in Nebraska, making them fairly well-acclimated to Colorado.

If you need to buy a lot of shrubs and trees you'd be better off in the fall. Most of the garden centers have them for 25-30% off. I have bought some wonderful things from Timberline and O'toole's this way. It might be hard to wait though:(

As for mulch, I called a few tree companies in the area and got free stuff delivered in my driveway. It is from larger trees them they grind up. I had to move it around the property myself, but after a few loads the yard looks a lot better. Plus it's not that wierd orangy red color that seems to be so popular now.

Thanks for the great advice everybody! I have my trees now I'm just waiting to resubmit my landscaping plan to my HOA as my first plan was denied! I forgot to write down the exact names of my trees, apparently deciduous trees is not an apt description. I'm in for another 2+ week wait.

I went the cheap route and bought large trees from Home Depot. Got a really nice 7 foot Austrian pine for $90 today. I feel bad for not supporting local businesses but I at least made up for it by spending a small fortune on supplies for my square foot garden boxes locally. I'm dying to get stuff into the ground and at least do something fun before I have to start hauling rock. Our frontyard has yards of exposed landscape fabric. The neighbors claim that no bark sticks around in the wind we get here. They are all rocking up their bark areas and I'm ready to join the ranks.

Thanks again for the welcome and great advice!