Spring is here, finally, and my wife and I have recently begun the conversation about what to do with our yard. Luckily, we have a decent sized yard and can do all sorts of fun things with it. We could plant flowers, we could plant new shrubs. We can do all sorts of things, because we have a place to do it.

What do you do though, if you don't have any space? Maybe you live in an apartment, or you live downtown. Or maybe your spouse is an evil control freak who won't let you do any of the things you want to in your yard because it doesn't "fit the aesthetic". If any of these things sound like you, how about adopting a garden?

I spied a post from last week on the Downtown Bangor Facebook page celebrating the first day of Spring, or "Sprinter" as it's been called around my house. As the snow is melting, some spots around the city are starting to look as crappy as my yard. Not that the city doesn't keep up, but between salt from the road, snow plows, and mud season, there has never been a better time to adopt a little garden right here in Bangor.

If gardening and beautification is something that interests you, fill out the adoption form. Once you're all set, all you have to do is sit back and decide what your going to put in your sweet little dirt plot. They encourage plants that are native to the state of Maine, since they will likely require the least amount of work. They're already used to our rain cycles, soil, and season length.

Next, you may want to have a look at this link, it will show all the spots where you can adopt your little piece of botanical heaven. All the red dots are adoptable spots. Spots in blue have already been taken. That way the city can avoid any major turf wars. Maine is a safe place to live, and we don't want any rival gardens being adopted.

There are also a few rules you may want to check out. The city has some restrictions on what you can use for fertilizer and pest control, things like that. You can read all about their Adopter Guidelines here. Nothing crazy or unreasonable, but a lot of these spots are near the Penobscot River and the Kenduskeag. Nobody wants anything bad getting into the rivers and streams.

So dig out all your special tools, and gloves and gardening clothes, and get ready to give a dirt pile the business. You may find you have a bigger green thumb than you thought. or you may discover that you hate gardening. Who knows? What's important is to get out there in nature and have fun. That's why this is the way life should be.

 

 

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