Will my obsession diminish, or only get worse???

So, this is my first year with SFG, actually real gardening of any kind and I am just wondering when I will stop obsessing all the time about my plants, when to replant what progress I should be making,etc? I feel like all my waking hours, and even some of my sleeping hours are spent thinking about everything I could/should be doing in my garden, and impatiently waiting for progress.

As a gardener for the long haul (here's hoping anyway), will I eventually calm down, or am I doomed to only obsessing more and more as my plans get more ambitious???

I guess, at the very least, this is a more healthy obsession than some others might be!

Happy to become a new part of the family!

My guess would be that you will become even more obsessed. That is the way it has been for me anyway. I am always trying to learn more so that I can master gardening. When I think I have one type of plant figured out, I start experimenting and gaining experience with new things. I have not been at this too long, but I am so excited any time I think of my garden and the new things that I am trying.

Welcome to the forum. You will find lots of great advice here.

Lol, I know this feeling! You find yourself thinking about gardening so much that you forget about everything else! Yes, it is a healthy obsession, much healthier than some.

For me, my gardening obsession comes in waves. Around January I start obsessing about what seeds to order and how I should plant my garden. But then it fades for a while. Then in March/April I start obsessing again because I get to start planting things. But then it fades for a while. Then everything is ready to harvest! It's fun though. It keeps me out of trouble.

You'll be fine until you try a new plant, or new variety, try to identify new bugs, build a new tabletop, have animals destroy something, have the weather throw you a curve, brag about your new favorite recipe, taste the best whatever you've grown this season, the list will never end and you my dear are doomed, I mean blessed just like the rest of us!

yup with gardening there is no shortage of SUB...obsessions.
So far this year I have obsessed over worm farms, and hot composts and growing perennials etc etc
I have been growing for several years, there is SOO much to learn, and so many areas to delve into.

As a new gardener you will have obsessions about being able to grow somethng - or anything. As you gain experience those obsessions will disappear and be replaced by new obsessions! They will change from 'can I do this?' to 'how far can I go?'! An old friend of mine used to always say " You don't know how far you can go until you go too far!"

GG - pushing the limits and definitely having garden obsession dreams!

With me, it has just gotten worse! Once I think I have "mastered" one thing, it's onto something else. It's not just in my SFG either. My whole yard is being made over! I'm not complaining I love how much I have learned, and there are worse things to be obsessed about!

duhh wrote:With me, it has just gotten worse! Once I think I have "mastered" one thing, it's onto something else. It's not just in my SFG either. My whole yard is being made over! I'm not complaining I love how much I have learned, and there are worse things to be obsessed about!

+1

kateh wrote:So, this is my first year with SFG, actually real gardening of any kind and I am just wondering when I will stop obsessing all the time about my plants, when to replant what progress I should be making,etc? I feel like all my waking hours, and even some of my sleeping hours are spent thinking about everything I could/should be doing in my garden, and impatiently waiting for progress.

As a gardener for the long haul (here's hoping anyway), will I eventually calm down, or am I doomed to only obsessing more and more as my plans get more ambitious???

I guess, at the very least, this is a more healthy obsession than some others might be!

Happy to become a new part of the family!

Happy ANSFG day .

Your DOOMED .. I tell Ye , we're all doomed to be ANSFG'ers for ever and a day , for it neatly & completely fills a big vacuum in our lives .

PS

Watch out for the OCD behaviour of counting .... worms , seeds , plants , squares , flowers and dollars spent.

First you'll obsess about the things you planted ....

Then you'll obsess about all the things you haven't planted ...

Then you'll obsess about all the clutter you've created by all the planting ....

Then you'll obsess about building new TT's and boxes to organize all the clutter ....

Then you'll obsess about the fact that you've planted so many things, that you can't focus of growing the things you really enjoy.

Then you'll obsess about reducing the number of things your growing, down to just what you enjoy.

Then you'll find yourself only obsessing about what you enjoy.

.... but no; you'll probably never stop obsessing, because if you did, you'd just be obsessed about not having an obsession in your life

I first started off with just a few small SFG beds on the lawn(32 sq ft total). While researching what plants grow well in my area, I happened across the Master Gardener(MG) program. Now I'm a MG, helping other people with their gardens. While spending time volunteering as an MG, I'm doing a Permaculture Design Course and after that I'll probably get back into learning to be a SFG teacher(not that I need the class per se, but more for the certificate).

So starting with a small SFG 4 years ago, I hope to be a Master Gardener, Permaculture Designer(with a lean towards (sub)urbia, which SFG fits into nicely by the way), a certified SFG teacher and maybe a Master Naturalist(this is a new class that will be offered in a year or two with the LSU AgCenter, who also does the MG program). Plus I hope to take an Environmental Studies Class later this year(with the garden club I joined recently). The SFG is now 176 sq ft and in a prime location for year-round full sun. Throughout all of this, I'm learning propagation and natural pest control(I haven't sprayed a chemical in 2 years).

While others might see this as an obsession, I see it as learning about the important things in life(which money really isn't that important when you put it in its proper perspective). I can only hope that you also become this obsessed with the stewardship of your land.

kateh wrote: ...will I eventually calm down, or am I doomed to only obsessing more and more as my plans get more ambitious???

God Bless all our OCD types! If we weren't obsessive, we could be superficial, a dilettante, unknowedgeable, uncommitted, tasteless, hungry, depressed, and more. If it were not for the obsessive and compulsive, few books would be written, music would not be composed or played well, homes would not be cleaned, there would be no experts on anything - in short, our lives would by and large be miserable.

The hard part is recognizing when enough is enough. I don't know about anyone else, but I reach that stage about once a week. Then I find the time, the energy, the money (my primary limitations) to do more, at least until something else comes along. But the garden is such a growth experience (pun noted) that it demands a little bit of attention every day.

Oh well, not to worry. Just keep gardening, relax and enjoy your work.

Tom

tomperrin wrote:God Bless all our OCD types!

That's so true! Doctors treat OCD types like they have a disease! But in the old days, you would just say that person was MOTIVATED. Granted, compulsively washing your hands probably isn't good.... But thoroughly counting each seed as I carefully place it in my SFG? Not so bad, right?

I keep a pair of chopsticks stuck into my garden and terminate caterpillars with youthful glee whenever I find them. They started it by destroying my only jalapeno plant last year so I am completely justified.

The other night my wife woke me up because in my sleep I said "don't eat me." Later that day I think I vaguely remember dreaming about a big caterpillar. I have no idea if I really dreamed about a caterpillar or if that dream had anything to do with me talking in my sleep. I have had dreams in the past about my garden good and bad so I guess you could say it is on my mind a lot and I'm most likely obsessed.

I do think gardening is one of the better maybe best obsession you can have.

camprn wrote:

duhh wrote:With me, it has just gotten worse! Once I think I have "mastered" one thing, it's onto something else. It's not just in my SFG either. My whole yard is being made over! I'm not complaining I love how much I have learned, and there are worse things to be obsessed about!

+1

+2

Boy, can I relate! This is my first year of SFG, and I can't wait to run into my yard a couple of times daily and check the progress. I bet my neighbors think I have gone round the bend because they may hear my excited yells: "Rick! My squash is coming up!" lol

My main hobby is bladesmithing, just gotten into gardening this year. As the gentleman that teaches me my smithing is fond of saying..

Its habit forming and contagious Once your infected the only cure is more of it!

I feel EXACTLY the same way. Morning, noon, and night gardens. If only I had the time or energy to do everything I'm wishing I could do!

Here's to hoping, right?

moldeen85 wrote:Morning, noon, and night gardens. If only I had the time or energy to do everything I'm wishing I could do!

This is a GREAT definition of our obsession!

And by the way!

GG

I actually took a few minutes to list all the things I am growing this season (umm... or hopefully growing) if successful. This is what it came to:

9 tomatoes, 8 peppers, 2 zucchini, 1 watermelon, 2 pumpkin, a few garlic, 20 carrots, 16 lettuce, 9 leeks, 8 chives, 18 spinach, 9 kale, 2 cilantro, 18 snap peas, 14 pole beans. (Not included planned 2nd crops of peas and greens)

I only have approx 41 square feet of bed and containers...Think 4x10 space. WOW That's why we all love SFG!! My family of 5 should be feasting! The only thing I could think of that I might add would be 1 eggplant. I think I went overboard for my 1st sfg year

I can't speak for others, but when you have 96 tomatoes, it's clearly an obsession...

Squat_Johnson wrote:I can't speak for others, but when you have 96 tomatoes, it's clearly an obsession...

GG

I guess it is an obsession. Ten 4x4s plus herb pots, pepper buckets and tomato buckets. Great for a family, but there's just me. And since I also got my son started SFGing, I can't even pawn off the excess on him anymore. He has 30 buckets of tomatos. Last year I shared with the food bank.

Kay

Well I don't know but....
When I get on my computer and come straight here and want to spend hours reading and not worry about pinterst or facebook? Could be!

crs wrote:Well I don't know but....
When I get on my computer and come straight here and want to spend hours reading and not worry about pinterst or facebook? Could be!

+1! I spend waaaaaaaay more time here than I do on Facebook or anywhere else. What you guys are doing in your gardens is so much more interesting than what my old high school friends did at work.