I was able to curb my growing obsession by running out of room to put new things, fighting with squirrels, having to fight rampant growth and frustrations dealing with poor fruit set has really burned me out on my obsession…
Or maybe I’m just tired today…lol
same
my day job takes thought and focus and creativity. it can be all consuming. this? this is my hobby and it’s for me to enjoy. I want to grow food, that’s the goal of my hobby, like rolling a 300 when I go bowling. I don’t always get to the goal but it’s the getting there that is fun
using sprinklers on a timer, trying to get more perennials, all that makes the harder times easier. I do too much in spring but it’s from excitement to start.
I see the neighbors up the hill watching me through binoculars, and I just yesterday, while I was on a 12 foot ladder bagging, heard a visitor to the front-house neighbor say, “That neighbor of yours is… interesting?” And my neighbor said “She is harmless.” Then I popped my head out from the tree and said: “Usually!”
Neighbors and the UPS man think I’m weird, my coworkers roll their eyes, and I roll into bed after dark because I had to go outside after wok. I fell down the hill in February last year and put myself in traction, then I fell again and was suddenly fine!
I had to leave my orchard a dozen years ago to move here to be near my sick mom, and I thought I would never start again, but I did.
I don’t think I will be cured, not even by being old, hurt, or tired. I belong out there.
I like your style and personality. Wish I had more harmless neighbors too.
Had a random neighbor the other day ask me about his peach tree woes. I felt blessed to have a neighbor care enough about fruit to strike up a conversation. He is from around the corner and we never met before.
I slowed me down on the amount of work I get done in a day. However, I still can’t stop replacing and buying more fruit trees. The maintenance has gotton a hold of my life but its a good thing. There are far worse things I can do with my time. I can’t sit still and watch a movie anymore.
I have a 28 year old car I bought new that I been wanting to build and drag race like I used to but due to so many trees, I just dont have the time. When I was young I didn’t have the money and all the time in world. Now I have money to build it, but no time. We can still do what we love but we made our choice at this point in time. I have no regret as of now. Growing fruit is far more rewarding because I get something in return. The return is based on my hard work, constant learning, failures and successes.
I’m that weird guy who doesn’t say much unless it’s about my latest plant obsession
I always say farmers have generations of figuring all that out. We have to start from scratch.
Is hard to stop talking once you get me started about my fixations.
As my sister says about our family, “Ask a question, get a thesis”.
I have trouble keeping up with the fruit trees and garden but I alway find time to make it bigger with left over odds and ends.
Whats wrong with me?
Looks very neat and well tended to me!
Break a fruit growing obsession??? Embrace it !!!
Go broke 
also make a goal of what you want and don’t fall into endless rabbit holes…
Every success drives me 
if you’re like this, fail a few times 
promise you’ll be discouraged after a bit…
I’ve replanted entirely twice, due to moves, as well as replaced a half dozen trees a few times. I figure other women buy clothes, makeup, and shoes, so why can’t I have trees? You can EAT fruit, but you can’t eat shoes.
Jefferis! Jefferis! It is cursed here. Not acceptable…lol
Everybody has different abilities and limits. When something is causing mental, financial, physical, spiritual or legal distress and you can’t break free from of…it is an addiction. It is good you are writing about it. The first step is to admit and write it down. Writing uses a different part of your brain than talking does.
I got out of food gardening 3 years ago. I was not in your case. I could break free from it. But it took years of wasted time and heartache to finally accept gardening was not for me. I’m no good at it. You can’t wildcraft a garden here.
I just grow fruit trees now. I’m done planting trees this year. I’ve run out of room that can yield half-ass sun to grow the trees. I just have a small 2/3-acre lot with a house on it. I wildcraft the trees. I’m not a slave to the trees. Even so they all take some time. I’m lucky we got lots of deer to clean up the dropped fruits.
I don’t grow fruit trees as a hobby. I grow them to get fruit. I got other things to occupy my time. I’d tell you to do the same. Find some healthy activities to occupy your time and cut back some on the growing.
From what I gather there are fruit tree collectors and non-collectors. The collectors want every variety of that species to grow. I’m not a collector, but I do like to have experience with a variety of trees. I like a sampling and only of the top fruit trees that are not problem children to grow. If I had more room, maybe I’d ad another 20 trees or so. And a greenhouse to grow some figs. But that would be about it…if I don’t want trouble!
Good luck!
It seems like Clarklinks says. Every season their is that one variety that hexes you . For me it’s Jefferis this year. And last year it was Hackworth…lol
I was doing great with my mangos for 2 years. 2 years!!! All in Colorado zone 6b i get to Washington state and move into my forever home and they all die suddenly die one day IN SPRING 
except a Pickering that’s deciding to hang on with me…
I have to restart that again… 2k down the drain…
I see collectors, gardeners and growers almost are different things. like collectors want to see and compare a lot of varieties and can go down a rabbit hole on one kind of thing- whether it’s lettuce or apples, it’s one thing and all the varieties. it’s cool to read about and people who love that are really the reason there’s so many good varieties been saved.
then growers who want either
people who run an orchard or farm or u pick. or beekeepers or people who make a product like jam or cooks who want sauce. usually there’s veg and fruit both and they’re concerned with resistance and flavor and they don’t mind putting a lot of work into the things they grow. and they grow a lot of each thing. I consider people who have an over arching goal like permaculture or native-only gardening, pollinator feeding, all in this group. what they’re planting has to serve a purpose or it’s out
then gardeners, they might get a ton of different things, they’ve got a fig or two, zone pushing one of them. an apple tree. a couple peaches that sounded good. the vegetables could be anything, whatever they personally want to eat. there’s usually a flower garden too just one or two things. usually there’s stuff they don’t like or that doesn’t produce but they will get around to replacing it “eventually”. if they really like something that will be the thing they grow a lot of, but they’re not trying to save a variety or make a product or point. they’re just puttering around and glad to get food from it.
there’s no hard line between any of these groups I think we all have a little of each but I know that the first two can get very expensive, collecting every fig or every tomato, hell a potato farm has to pay for itself because it’s a job to farm it. but then the gardeners end up spending on seed and soil and starts and bare root trees too.
I couldn’t do this as a job. farmers work too hard and I couldn’t do it. I have a little collection of a few things I really like, but I couldn’t label and tag and scientifically approach varieties. so despite my few collections and my desire for a WHOLE LOT of garlic or tomatoes or plums or apples, I’m really just a gardener.
Many people control how much they do of something… costly… via budget.
We really enjoy going out to eat… but that can be quite expensive compared to eating at home.
There was a time in our lives when finances were tight… my wife was not working… she was home scooling the kids… being a great mom… and we were living off my salary.
In those days we used the Dave Ramsey envelope method of budgeting and spending control.
It worked well.
Give “fruit growing hobby” a $ amount in your budget that you and your spouse agree on… and stick to it.
You might even agree to reduce that amount annually by some specific amount until you achieve the control needed.
We had to do that with eating out money… back in those days.
Good Luck !
TNHunter
