Colorado Gardening

There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments.
- Janet Kilburn Phillips

What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and looses itself in the sunset.
- Crowfoot

At Prairie Eden Designs, we hope that each person is able to dream and realize the garden that they need. We want to help each person achieve that aim in any way that we can. While we can't provide all of the information in these pages that a person might need to garden successfully, we want to provide a starting point. It is our hope that in your planning and designing phase, you will lean on the expertise of a professional gardener, horticulturist, or landscape designer to help you in the process. We look forward to the opportunity to be that professional that you turn to for advice and help.

I have heard it said before that gardening is much like playing cards - you don't get to choose the hand that you are dealt, but can choose how you play it.

The Front Range of Colorado is not the most forgiving climate in the country. Snow is not uncommon in either May or September, water is scarce, soil is generally bad, and the dry winds are deadly to so many of the plants that our gardening colleagues in most of the rest of the country enjoy. Still in all, there are a great many beautiful plants that do very well here, provided they are given a fighting chance of survival.

The most important thing that a Colorado gardener can do for his garden is to amend the soil with zeal and abandon. Our soils here are generally quite poor, and since the climate above the soil line is going to challenge every plant, the best thing that we can do is to provide a rich environment for the plant to establish itself below the soil line. The better the quality of the soil, the less water will be required.

Second, gardens should be provided with a solid drip irrigation system that will deliver water at the surface of the soil where it will do the most good. And of course, a nice layer of good organic mulch to hold the moisture in.

Once the gardener has assured that the foundation is right - good soil, adequate water delivered to the soil, and a layer of protective mulch, he is ready to start the fun work of planting, weeding, pruning, and enjoying.