Not much going on in and around properties in February so we’ll be getting things ready for this coming season both in the office and around the shop. I’ll likely be moving some routes around this year specifically to avoid some areas where we’ve run into trash collection conflicts. Some areas are pretty crowded on trash day.

I had 19 days in January to hang out with family here in Central Oregon and the Puget Sound area as well as Portland. We had a blast celebrating my dad’s 82^nd birthday with most siblings in n attendance and much better weather here than the east coast where he’s from. Sure did drink some good beer and visit some great eating establishments around the North West.

Weather permitting I’ll be out getting spring cleanups started during the first week of March. Not in a hurry just taking advantage of good weather when it arrives. Let me know if there’s anything you’d like some attention paid to prior to March.

Thanks again for your input and support.

ed

Leaf drop is very slow coming this fall so we’re slowly working our way around for cleanups. We will continue to make visits as long as weather permits and we will not be working on a regular route day schedule any more. This means we’ll be making the rounds as the weather permits. Typically we try for 1 last visit after all of the leaves are down. For the most part, the plan is to be done doing fall cleanups by Thanksgiving or shortly thereafter if the weather holds.

Please call or email if you have any specific questions or concerns about your cleanup.

We turned off the irrigation in mid-October. We simply turned off the main and/or the clock. We do this to allow things to dry out and not freeze with early morning drops in temperature that would not allow cleanups. The irrigation systems will be blown out over the next few weeks if they haven’t been already. This will be done by a licensed contractor and billed to you separately.

We will be getting the 2015 contracts out the first days of December and will be sending them via email this year for your convenience. You’ll just reply to the email to renew your contract. Discounts and terms will be the same this year and explained at the time you receive the contract email.

November will be quiet busy and I look forward to it every year as I enjoy the fall in Central Oregon and it’s pretty cool working on your properties as well.

Thanks again for your input and support.

ed

Ed Bartz

ECO-SCAPES

PO Box 205

Bend OR 97709

541-419-1578

It was a super busy month with leftover irrigation work from April, weed control in earnest and spring fertilizer all taking extra time during the nearly five full weeks of the month.

Speaking of fertilizer, we had a late and unexpected increase in the cost of our fertilizer that we found out about as we picked up the first of 3 tons 2 weeks ago (nearly a month late to boot).Because of the lateness of the rate increase we will absorb the increase for the time being. The actual cost went up nearly $2.00 PER BAG. I’ll have it figured out by September and we’ll do our best to keep the cost as low as possible.

The weeds have been super confused this spring and didn’t cause much trouble throughout March and April but decided that it was time to rise and shine about half way through May. We’ll be on them the first week of June and try and get them back in their rightful place (which is tiny and in a few corners only).

June brings balance to our schedule which should allow time for any projects that you’d like done or any areas that you’d like some extra or special attention. Please advise us as early as possible of any special events or requests that you may have this summer so that we can schedule extra time if needed.

I hope you make time to get outside and enjoy the blessing that we call home here in Central Oregon.

Thanks as always for your input and support.

ed

Ed Bartz

ECO-SCAPES

PO Box 205

Bend OR 97709

541-419-1578

As we approach the hottest part of the summer (92 tomorrow) we’ll be looking to fine tune irrigations systems and want to let you know that occasionally we skip weekly mowing. It’s really good for the grass and after 2 weeks without a mow it usually looks great. We do this if the grass grows slowly or has any weaknesses in it. It’s pretty remarkable how the rest positively affects the grass.

You may have noticed that fuel has risen sharply in June to over $4.00 a gallon. This is usually our threshold for a fuel sur charge but we are holding off at this time in hopes that it’ll come down soon. If it continues to rise or fails to drop below $4.00 we’ll have slight charge at the end of July.

June was a very active month in the animal rescue world with the 2 Bulls Fire, the Benham Falls car accident and the Brosterhaus Road bridge/cattle truck accident. As you know, I’m very involved with the Pet Evacuation Team and am very committed to helping the community in these times of need. I greatly appreciate your patience when these events occur. As committed as I am YOU come first and I’ll always work to get your properties taken care of before we go out on a call.

Thanks as always for your input and support.

ed

Ed Bartz

ECO-SCAPES

PO Box 205

Bend OR 97709

541-419-1578

With the hail and heavy rain storms that we’ve had over the past few weeks you may notice lots of downed needles, branches and leaves. It almost looks like fall leaf drop in certain areas.

Weeds are not so horrible right now but it seems that the Aspen suckers have really taken off in the past few weeks. We’ll keep spraying them and try to get on top of it.

Not much else going on around the landscapes deep in the heart of summer. We’ll be gearing up for the fall fertilizer applications that will go down in early to mid-September.

For those of you into running the Cascade Lakes Relay is Friday August 1 from Silver Lake to Bend, 216.6 miles (the longest relay in the US). The finish line party starts just after 12pm noon on Saturday and will be attended by the 215 teams each with 12 runners and it’s a party that’s open to the public at River Bend Park with lots of food, games and beer. It’s a great event that puts LOTS of money in the coffers of many non-profits in Central Oregon. I’m a Course Director so keep an eye out for me from 9pm Friday night thru 8am Saturday morning on the Cascade Lakes Highway between LaPine and Elk Lake.

The Bend Beer Festival and Little Woody Beer Festival all happen in August as well so get out and enjoy the biggest little beer town in the USA.

Thanks as always for your input and support.

ed

Ed Bartz

ECO-SCAPES

PO Box 205

Bend OR 97709

541-419-1578

We’ve begun fall fertilizer applications already and will finish up in the next week or so. As the weather cools we’ll cut back on watering until we shut it off in mid-October. FYI, it’s the length of days that really makes a difference in the grass health with shorter days relieving some of the stress from high temps. We didn’t actually get that much rain in August but did have some cloudy days that really ease temperature stress also.

We’ll have some time in September to get some extra work done, if you have any thing that you’ve been waiting on please don’t hesitate to ask. Fall cleanup and pruning will increase towards the end of October and intensify through Thanksgiving.

The next 8 weeks will likely bring 7 wonderful weather weeks to the high desert and hotel occupancy will plummet so get out and enjoy all of our blessing while the days are warm and the nights are cool.

Thanks as always for your input and support.

ed

Ed Bartz

ECO-SCAPES

PO Box 205

Bend OR 97709

541-419-1578

We’ve gotten quite a bit of early pruning done and for the most part have put down the last Roundup of the season. The cutting height has been lowered gradually over the last 3 weeks to allow all of the energy in the grass plants to go from leaf growth down to food storage in the roots. Irrigation clocks have been turned down to 60-70% to keep things from getting soggy.

We will turn OFF the irrigation starting the 13^th. By turning off the water we insure that the landscape will dry out a bit for cleanups and not be icy and frozen. The irrigation will get blown out by a licensed contractor over the weeks that follow and will be billed to you separately. If you have any questions or concerns about blowouts please email me and we’ll address them.

The idea behind cleanups is to make as few trips out as possible. Ideally, all of the leaves drop in one day and then we clean up the property. Reality, however rarely fits our plans and we’ll end up with 2 visits or more. We will make the rounds as time and weather permit and will not be following the weekly schedule of the summer. Typically we’ll get all of them done before Thanksgiving. Please don’t’ hesitate to contact me with any requests or concerns and we’ll get them taken care of.

As we do every October (there’s really nothing going on…grass isn’t growing and leaf drop hasn’t happened yet) we will be taking the week of October 6-10 off. We have a major equipment repairs to see to and I will be headed east to visit family also.

There are still 4-6 weeks of great weather ahead so get out and enjoy Central Oregon if you get a chance.

Thanks as always for your input and support.

ed

Ed Bartz

ECO-SCAPES

PO Box 205

Bend OR 97709

541-419-1578

So, this cold and wet month has made for ideal conditions for cheat grass proliferation. This in turn means that we’ll be busy the first weeks of March trying to get a good start on beating cheat grass. Along with pruning and spring cleanup and questionable weather for the first week of the month will keep us very busy.

THANK GOODNESS for that. To say it’s been a long “off season” would be an understatement. I’m very anxious to get back to work and my recuperation has moved along well so I’m chomping at the bit to get going.

I’m really excited for our 22^st season in business and look forward to being out on your property soon.

Well, to say it’s cold out would be a bit of an understatement, but,,,it’s really cold out ! ! ! We had some unseasonably warm days in January that where fun to take advantage of (work around the shop and hanging out with some of our animals around the ranch). But for much of the month it was quite cold and snowy.

I had a chance to head east and visit family and friends up and down the north eastern coast from New Hampshire and Maine to New Jersey and I got nothing but their cold as well. At least I got to hang with my Dad for his 82 birthday and my nieces Sweet 16.

It’s actually a good time in February to get some large pruning done. If you think there’s anything you’d like looked at and address, just drop me an e-mail or phone call and I’ll swing by and take a look and give you an estimate.

The last deadline for taking advantage of our contract per payment option is coming up on February 15. All you need to do to make that happen is to simply reply to this e mail (to pay by credit card) or just send a check and we’ll get it done.

I’m happy to say that I had my last doctor checkup today and he was happy to report that there’s nothing to report. Orthopedically there’s nothing more to do and I’m ready for the coming season. I’m still working on flexibility and stamina but overall things healed up nicely.

Stay warm and let me know if there’s anything we can do for you or a friend this month

ed

Ed Bartz

ECO-SCAPES

PO Box 205

Bend OR 97709

541-419-1578

It’s been a mixed month weather wise in Central Oregon and a prime example of “perspective”. For skiers, boarders and snow plow companies it was a bust. For anybody liking cold dry days and some sunny warm days it was a boom month. The warm days were warm (in the mid-50s) and the cold days and nights were VERY cold (-9 here in Bend).

We’ve actually been pretty busy around the shop and office. We got all of the 2014 contract renewals sent out electronically and a few of the warmer days allowed some work around the shop getting cleaned up and some equipment worked on.

Our first prepayment discount deadline is Wednesday January 15^th if you want to take advantage of the savings we offer for prepaying your contract. Because we used email this year you simply need to respond via email to accept the new contract. Of course if you’d like to print out a copy and send it in that’s fine also. Remember that if you choose to pay via credit card that we need the account holders name, card number, expiration date AND the 3 digit security code on the back of the card. Our high level security system does not allow us to keep the entire card number on file so if you’re new to the credit card payment or when your current card expires we need all of the info fresh.

As we head into the lull before the new season starts we’ll be working on adding new clients to fill in our routes. So, if you know of anyone looking for landscape maintenance services, please give them our name or give us their name and we’ll help them out.

I’ve been working hard at therapy and getting closer to normal in my recovery process and things are moving along well. I’m walking with barely any limp and every day my stamina and endurance improves. Thanks again for all of your positive thoughts and patience thru what is truly a humbling and scary time in my career.

Enjoy the beginning of 2014 and I hope it brings prosperity and joy to all of you.

ed

Ed Bartz

ECO-SCAPES

PO Box 205

Bend OR 97709

541-419-1578