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Summertime in the BelgradesContents
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Cultivating Our Gardens"All that is very well," answered Candide, "but let us cultivate our garden." By Dale Finseth, Kennebec County Soil & Water Conservation District. Given the season, I'd like to take this opportunity to address some of you gardeners out there. For those who have not read my opinions in the past, I believe most gardeners exhibit "control issues." After all, most of us fuss over what grows where or what is not allowed to grow. We tend to impose our vision on the vegetative landscape, and pity the poor plant that breaks one of our rules. We have applied the "benefits" of science i.e. tools-frequently fossil fuel powered, pesticides, bio-engineering etc. to our quest for control and remain unsatisfied. We are an impatient lot as well. This spring as one plant blooms and another remains dormant we demand immediate gratification. Those annuals at the greenhouse look great so we plant them early and then wonder why they don't thrive in early spring's cool soil temperatures. A tree that hasn't leafed out is assumed to be dead when it is just dormant. We need to lighten up. Plants have their seasons. Last week the redbud tree and daffodils were my favorites because they were in full bloom. This week I suspect the lilac, white oak and the elm trees may take their place. And next week I expect the gingko and purple beech to be my favorites. Let the plant life follow its own schedule. Focus on the things you actually can control and let your yard establish its own life. On a more serious note — As a follow-up to the previous article, we would like to acknowledge the work we do with local conservation partners. During this season and through this summer we will be working directly with the China Region Lakes Alliance in that part of the county, the Cobbossee Watershed District and the Friends of the Cobbossee Watershed in that watershed system and the Belgrade Regional Conservation Alliance (BRCA) in the East Pond watershed. In the East Pond project the Kennebec District is providing gravel road technical assistance for landowners with gravel and camp roads in that watershed. These efforts to work with local partners is intended to provide a more diverse set of services to landowners by combining the strengths of each group without the need to duplicate what already exists. Given the limited resources for much of our conservation work, it is essential to pool our resources in order to get the most done at the least cost. As we all struggle to "do more with less" I believe we will see more and more of this type of arrangement. There are occasions when various partners are able to show off their work in a combined way. If any of you took in the first "Spring Running" Herring Festival on May 20, in Augusta, you may have seen us with a number of the other conservation partners. While on some levels we compete with each other, we all try and work together in order to preserve, protect and enhance water quality here in Maine. For information about any of our conservation projects please contact Dale Finseth or Jennifer McLean at | ||