Am I nuts or do we all do this?

[BigBrownDogHouse]

I'm fortunate to work from home(sometimes that is unfortunate when you start talking to the walls) and I go out to the garden constantly.
If I ever kept track of how many trips I made outside each day to check on the plants people would think I was downright goofy. I'm sure a few neighbors already do.
I have a garden on the side and two in the back so both the back and front doors get a ton of wear on them.

Heck, I've been going out raking the dirt a couple of times a day for the past month, month and a half.

I have found that it is truly a passion with gardening for me.....to observe every little detail....every blossom......every petal....every growth spurt......no matter what you are growing.

In November, we'll all be bundled up back indoors again around here.

[zabby17]

With me, it's one "quick" trip out in the morning that forgets to end. I wander out with my coffee cup "just" to check on whether the peas have sprouted, or how big the rhubarb is (or whatever the possible development is at the particular time of year). I'm in sweatpants and the t-shirt I slept in.

By the time I get back, my coffee cup is forgotten in the corner of a back bed, my hands are grubby up to the elbows from digging, my nice soft t-shirt is filthy, sometimes irredeemably so, and my husband is wondering where I am if he should give up on the breakfast I promised to make "in a few minutes" about an hour ago before I wandered out....

But I, too, remind myself that it'll be all too soon before the wind and snow is howling outside, so I forgive myself for getting carried away!

Zabby, fellow Zone fiver

[Boutique Tomatoes]

BBDH, I'm in the same situation, and I have had long conversations with my plants at times while working through a problem.

However, working out of the house I can be in the gardens multiple times a day, I take a lot of calls with a bluetooth headset while I'm in the garden.

With my peppers I started seed in January this year in my office on a rack in front of the southwest window. I know I probably witnessed every seed breaking the surface of the planting mix I was there so much. Now with all the plants I have on racks in the office and out in the garage I still visit them multiple times a day.

In our warm spells back in March I was out raking and tilling, and I've been uncovering and covering my strawberry beds for months now.

At least it's a healthy obsession.

[remy]

Brengolio,
Your garden looks so nice you would be crazy not to want to go out there!
Remy

[linuxman51]

that's a really nice looking garden, I'm jealous!

I'd probably spend more time in mine if I had the time to spend in it. I haven't gotten out to stake my tomatoes yet, and I think I missed the boat on the first round this year.

[delltraveller]

Originally Posted by akgardengirl

Down there with a flashlight I bet...Sue

Headlamp.

I use mine with the red filter to work the garden at night, especially during those times when the days are sauna hot.......okay, and to avoid certain neighbors....not the ones with the tattoos or the piercings, or the muscle cars and motorcycles, or the big screen and beer parties in the garage, or the teenagers with the angst and pants that need to be pulled up.....nope, it's the "normal" ones, the lawn worshippers, the ones who want outside to be as controlled as inside....I'd be surprised if there was an earthworm on the property....now that's nuts!

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by delltraveller

Headlamp.

I use mine with the red filter to work the garden at night, especially during those times when the days are sauna hot.......okay, and to avoid certain neighbors....not the ones with the tattoos or the piercings, or the muscle cars and motorcycles, or the big screen and beer parties in the garage, or the teenagers with the angst and pants that need to be pulled up.....nope, it's the "normal" ones, the lawn worshippers, the ones who want outside to be as controlled as inside....I'd be surprised if there was an earthworm on the property....now that's nuts!

Got one of those, wakes me up from my afternoon nap vacuuming his #%& yard.

Then he scalps his yard the minute it turns green and sprays bio kill on it.

He can't figure out why his yard stays brown.

Worth

[Crandrew]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Got one of those, wakes me up from my afternoon nap vacuuming his #%& yard.

Then he scalps his yard the minute it turns green and sprays bio kill on it.

He can't figure out why his yard stays brown.

Worth

Oh he sounds fun. You ever thought of enlightening him?

I wish there were a facepalm emoticon.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Crandrew

Oh he sounds fun. You ever thought of enlightening him?

I wish there were a facepalm emoticon.

The guy is an idiot, hooked his air compressor fittings up backwards so when you disconnect a tool all of the air blows out of the tank.

Worth

[Boutique Tomatoes]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Got one of those, wakes me up from my afternoon nap vacuuming his #%& yard.

Then he scalps his yard the minute it turns green and sprays bio kill on it.

He can't figure out why his yard stays brown.

Worth

Got me one of them lawn nuts a few houses away. Mows every two days, spreads or sprays something every week from spring till fall. Lines in the lawn must follow a precise pattern that alternates every mowing, the kids never do it right so I've seen him re-mow right after them because the lines weren't to his standards. Not a weed or insect to be seen, I think he's personally responsible for the lack of pollinators we have here.

Problem is that those guys can be so irritating the folks next to them cave and spread the toxic crud rather than listen to them complain about their weeds infesting his lawn and it can spread just like a disease.

I've got a fence, don't look over it and it won't bother you. I'm raising kids, not grass. Have some dandelion wine...

[babice]

Love the double face palm! Not me man (on the obsessive lawn-ness). I put some milky spore disease out yesterday because I knew the rains were coming and I've been getting swarmed with JBs for years. But, I won't do anything else to my lawn (I mean, beyond normal cutting).

I've got tomatoes, basil, rosemary, onions, carrots, dill, cilantro, roses, hydrangeas, azaleas, maples, thyme, asparagus, lavender... and a list too long to mention of other flowers....to obsess over! I mean, one has to have one's obsessions! And I'm QUITE sure my neighbors do find me obsessive about my beds. I feel so silly when I'm out there standing on the sidewalk staring at the beds. I often wonder if they think I'm just out there admiring (which, yeah, a little) but I'm also usually getting a visual to see if I missed something and to put the healthiness into perspective, etc. I spent the whole entire weekend working on those beds because this year my goal is to NOT spend a ton of time on those front beds. I intend to focus my obsessiveness on my toms out on the deck!

[Crandrew]

Babice,my garden is in my front yard, I know my neighboors are going "huh???" the whole time.

[TimeTraveler]

We check and look and stare several times a day so count us in too! We're only home 2 1/2 days a week so when we are there we stare in awe and look for something, anything we can do and think about what we're going to plant next!

[Badtxmofo]

I will go out and stare at my garden l10 or 15 times a day and look at the growth or think about more stuff i want to plant. Yesterday i sectioned off another 25 sq ft of the back yard to start preparing for next year. My wife thinks its funny that i go out there so much. Oh a Crandrew i have been threatening to dig the St. Augustine in the front yard up lol

[peppero]

what a great thread and responses. come on everybody, share your obsessions with us. you will feel better and so will we. jon