When an experienced gardener talks to someone taking up terrace gardening for the first time, they often feel compelled to issue a warning.

“Be careful,” they say. “A great NYC urban garden will change your life. It’s absolutely addictive.”

The novice will generally nod and laugh, thinking this is all some sort of social pleasantry – After all, what can adding a few tomato bushes to the balcony or putting some planters on the patio really do to change the course of one’s life? It’s a NYC urban garden, for goodness sakes - not a six month sabbatical on a care free tropical island. There’s something to get addicted to! And so that novice moves blithely forward. They put in a few plantings, try some stuff out. Maybe they go so far as to check out their building’s rooftop, assessing its suitability for a garden or at least a play space for the kids. Then fall rolls around,  and then the first snowflakes fall, and then some more snow, and then some more snow, and it’s right around this point that the novice urban gardener begins to feel a funny sort of twinge deep down inside.That twinge isn’t a pain, exactly; it’s more of a yearning, a physical expression of want.

“Wouldn’t it be nice,” that twinge says, “to be out working in the dirt right now? Wouldn’t it be lovely to plant some flowers? Could any one thing in this world be better than sitting on a bench in my own little NYC terrace garden with a good book and a glass of wine?”Congratulations, gardener. That twinge marks your arrival into the world’s gardening set. You’ve got your first official case of Spring Fever.

You can expect to feel these sensations pretty much annually for the rest of your life: the heady potential that comes with new plantings, the exhilaration of seeing the first green shoots working their way through the soil, the thrill of foliage returning to your favorite tree – all of these sensations are highly pleasurable and truly addictive; you won’t want to give them up.Unfortunately, nothing cures Spring Fever but the arrival of spring. We can’t control that – but we can take actions to alleviate some of the worst symptoms. Talking with your NYC terrace garden designer about next season’s plans, for example, can take some of the edge off a bad case of Spring Fever. If you haven’t tried it, now’s a great time to give it a shot. Discover what you create on your terrace, balcony, patio, or rooftop – no space is too small to be more beautiful.