January 2008 Newsletter
Blue Planet Earthscapes is now entering
our thirteenth growing season in the business! Wow! We are so happy and grateful
to have had the opportunity to serve so many people for such a long time. We
have tended some of our gardens since the very beginning. We have watched those
gardens grow healthy organically. We created new beds, split and moved about
the plants, spread mulch regularly to improve the soil and watched the soil
respond. We have winter watered during dry spells, shivering in the spray and
watered during the hot, growing season to supplement chaotic sprinkler systems.
We have sweated under the Colorado mid-season sunshine, swatted biting flies
and mosquitoes, and marveled at the butterflies, hummingbirds and songbirds
that were always there to entertain us. We have talked softly to the plants,
recited short planting prayers over seeds and new starts, and have cursed those
sneaky weeds that are always working to outwit the gardeners. We have whistled,
hummed and sang our fool heads of. We have cried over the losses of wind-downed
trees, deer munched displays, construction-damaged plants, and the loss of family
pets we have grown fond of. We have soaked ourselves working in the ponds and
waterways. We have hunched over rocks piles creating rockscapes and dry creeks.
It has been great and we thank each and every one of you!
As time moves along and costs rise, we try to hold them back. We don't
automatically raise our prices.
We have rolled our costs back more than once to try and be sensitive to you,
our beloved clientele. This is our life - our chosen field and we are joyous
to have the honor of working for so many wonderful people! Every day brings
new challenges and ideas along with the weekly routines. Each year brings new
gardens. Each year brings new visions of the future and how gardening might
change to meet the challenges. Most of Blue Planet Earthscapes' clients know
we are organically inclined and do not wish to use toxic chemicals in our pursuit
of natural beauty. Most clients want that organic bend and don't want the chemicals
either. Many of your gardens have been showcased on garden tours, in power point
presentations to the public, in Sunset Magazine or in garden books, from the
Audubon Society's Colorado Wildscapes to Raven in the Garden: a Front Range
Gardener's Journal. Some of our gardens have had art classes come to paint the
beauty, or photographers seeking to capture the moment. Outdoor parties and
events are ongoing. Everyone enjoys the garden!
Blue Planet Earthscapes is a sponsor for the 2008 Pikes Peak Permaculture
permaculture design certification course. Robin Shankman and Becky will be teaching
in the course. Robin is the Coordinator for the entire event. Several of Blue
Planet's gardeners will be receiving their certificates in permaculture and
we are all very excited and happy to be a part of it. And, talk about educational!
Permaculture is all about sustainable living and sustainable landscapes. Blue
Planet was the first to offer permaculture in the garden to the citizens of
El Paso County. More information is available at www.pikespeakpermaculture.org
In February the Landscape Symposium will find most of the Blue Planet
gardeners in attendance. There will be excellent programs to plug into: rainwater
management, wildlife habitats, sprinkler system updates, rock gardens, just
to name a few. One address in particular will forecast Colorado's future in
relation to global climate change, presented by the State Climatologist. We
thought we would start the year off with some educational programs. Should give
us lots to discuss while working in the garden. This symposium is open to the
public, contact the CSU Extension Office - 636-8923 for information.
The new year is upon us and we have watched the snows come with gratitude.
Things were getting pretty dry and snow is the best mulch possible, keeping
the soil even in temperature and moisture. So we will relax for another week
or at least until the snow melts. Common January chores include the pruning
of fruit trees and other deciduous plants as the insects and any diseases are
dormant in the cold. Also winter months are the best months for mulching the
garden beds. All the perennials have quieted down into green crowns of foliage,
waiting for spring sunshine and warmth before raising their flowery heads, so
mulch doesn't disturb them at all. The garden floors are wide open to receive
the soil-loving mulch. Through the freezes and thaws of winter into spring,
mulch will work to feed nutrients into the soil. By May, the garden is ready
to explode with that wondrous spring growth.
Life is a wondrous event, an awareness
that we try to keep in our conscious mind. We are alive and living the moment
within these lovely gardens that are also alive and in the moment with the gardeners!
We know the flowers, the herbs, the bushes, the trees, the pets and we know
the local wildlife that come to visit: songbirds, foxes, coyotes, Bambi, and
even bears have come into our awareness. (The bears are a bit scary!)
We come to belong to the gardens we tend. We become a part of that garden's
story. We are blessed.
Most fondly, Becky the gardener
Blue Planet Earthscapes P O Box
861 Manitou Spgs, CO 80829 (719) 685 - 0290