"New seedlings--must water, maybe 2x daily due to heat (though we just had 1.5" of rain)"

Sprinkler timers are cheap. I have one that screws on to the faucet and can be set to sprinkle several times a day for any set period of time.

"Must pick produce daily--tomatoes are ripening quickly"

My neighbors would willingly pick and use while I was away.

"Must stay on top of evil bug patrol and mouse incursions or they'll make inroads. "

No mouse problems here, but a leisurely stroll through my garden in the morning, cup of coffee in hand, and another at dusk is all the time I need for inspection. I doubt I'd lose an entire garden if I skipped doing this for two days in a row.

"Must can produce."

So refrigerate it for a few days. The quality doesn't deteriorate that much if you aren't going to eat it fresh.

But some people thrive on obsessions.

Annie's Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

Depends on the size of the garden/gardens and how one feels about using pesticides etc. Our gardens are quite large and we avoid broad-spectrum chemical use by hand patrol for pests so we spend several hours daily working in ours and much of the rest of the day canning and freezing. We feel produce does deteriorate fairly quickly so work hard to keep up with it. But wife and I are both retired and we enjoy the work together too and wouldn't have it any other way.

After all these years of gardening I can't relate to a day without time in the garden. That's just normal summer gardening life out here in the country. ;)

Dave

I do garden patrol every morning for as long as the season lasts. Sometimes a few minutes, sometimes an hour depending upon what's going on in there. I can leave it for a couple days if I must.

I'm on my way to buy a drip system and timer in order to leave for two days as we speak. I have lots of stuff germinating in the house that will be fine I think for just two days. If I had a choice I would rather be here to check twice a day, but don't have a choice.

I don't know if I would call it obsessive, necessarily, in my case I just love to be in the garden keeping an eye on it.

Since I just planted, I would have been happy to leave for the trip I just got back from that lasted 3 weeks if I had a drip irrigation system. Later in the season, though, I would want to be here every single moment to control all the aspects your friend mentioned. I was worried sick the whole time I was gone from my plants, even though I had my mom "sitting" them while I was away. I also am choosing not to use chemicals, so it's more important for me to be close at hand. BUT, I think I would be able to swing a weekend somewhere pretty easily. LOL

~Angela

How long I can leave my garden depends upon several things. After planting, I would not leave until the seedlings had sprouted, unless I knew rain was in the forecast. Then too, I need to get the fence up (I take some of it down to till in Spring) before hungry hopping mouths destroy the young plants. Once that's done, I could leave for 2-3 days if I had to.

There is still a great deal left to do between planting & harvest (trellises, mulching, weeding, etc.) but nothing that couldn't be put off for a few days, weather permitting.

Harvest can be demanding at times, when I need to pick some vegetables at least every other day. If I had to, I could still take a few days off... but it would be a lot of wasted produce, and I hate waste. My excess feeds friends, neighbors, and the local food bank.

To those that do not garden, or garden lightly, such commitment to a project could seem to be excessive. If it comes at the expense of other obligations, then it might indeed qualify as obsessive. But to those who grow a significant portion of their own food, being tied to the garden at certain times of the year is perfectly normal.

Totally aside from which... the implication of this thread seems to be that garden time is wasted time, and that there are more important things to do. Personally, I take exception to that. My garden doesn't just feed me; it provides exercise, relaxation, and a chance to share the fruits of my labors with others. The time obligations are not much different than the situation with pets, which can make similar demands, and be equally beneficial. Just look for one of the "why I garden" threads to find the many positive aspects of gardening.

Of course, seed saving could be construed as obsessive behavior... to which I would have to plead guilty. ;-)

I'm doing balcony gardening. We had had a good soaking rain before I went on a 5 day trip over the 4th of July. I also get overflow from the balcony above. So when I came back I was very excited that not only had the plants done ok but my first tomato was forming.

Now watering is becoming a big chore (no hose) and I have dropped down to watering every other day. Big hassle. Because the tomato and eggplant have fruit now they seem to need *tons* of water. And its alternating hot and muggy with coolish and rainy (and floods from the upstairs balcony). Because of my other projects (building self-watering containers) I don't have a lot of time or room to spare. I've been tripping over a lot of things and have pretty much given up on the eggplant.

Retying supports for all of the plants has ended up being one of the biggest hassles/time consumers.

I've spent about $200 on this balcony garden and have gotten maybe $5 of produce from it. That's only because fresh basil is pricy.

I'll see how it does with a four day trip in a couple weeks. If I don't plan on killing the tomato I had better make a better attempt at finding solutions for making a regular container self-watering.

I think I'll have a lot of equipment and a lot of leftover potting mix ingredients for next year so I may not need to put *any* money into it next year.

Zeedman,
There was no such implication--I'm wondering how you managed to read that into my message. It's actually my garden, but I've been so busy with putting in and maintaining flowering shrubs and plants this year that I've given the main daily responsibilities over to him this season.

My concern is that my friend always manages to weave the garden into his excuses why he can't leave to be with friends or family--be "social". Sometimes, it seems like it is for legitimate reasons and other times, like he's obsessing over things that could be let go for a day or two. I care about my garden also, but I'm willing to leave it for a couple of days to renew my commitment to my family and friends. He's always convinced that everything will be ruined without his daily monitoring. So, I'm asking how common his attitude is. :-)

Two days ... maybe : )

I can tell you from experience that 10 days in August is too long! Last year was my first year to grow a vegetable garden. We took a 10 day trip around the first of August and left my next door neighbor in charge of watering the potted plants on the porch and feeding the cats. The lawn and garden were on a sprinkler system with a timer. She did an awesome job with the cats, the pots on the porch ... not so much. I lost a quite a few potted plants, and the veggie garden was a jungle. Since my garden is very small, I have to trellis a lot of things, and the vines need to be tied up at least every 4 or 5 days. It took a lot of work to get things back in order when we got back, and I vowed not to travel in August again. Maybe earlier in the summer when all of the plants are small ... but our kids play baseball the first 8 or 10 weeks of summer, that's not really an option either. For my family, spring break is the perfect time of year for us to have our vacation, since there isn't much going on that time of year.

Bonnie

The most that I am away from my garden is probably 12 hours. I visit my garden at least 4 times a day.

EG

I don't like to be away at all during the gardening season, and that includes raising seedlings under lights indoors, which adds up to a large portion of the year. But, if the reason is compelling, I can get away for two or three days. A week or more is out of the question. If I have to be away that long, there is no point to gardening.

Under unusual circumstance, I could make an exception. That would be if I were to plant a specialized garden, not my usual diversified type. I've thought about doing a three sisters garden some time, for example. I think that type of garden could go without attention for many days at a time, once established.

Once, when I knew I could not be around to look after it, I planted my entire small garden in tomatoes, sprawling on black plastic with soaker hoses underneath connected to a timer. That worked fine. I did no maintenance all summer until the tomatoes were ready to harvest.

On another occasion, I just put in a cover crop of buckwheat and fava beans. My soil can always use more organic matter.

It's very disheartening when a garden which is well planned and planted gets out of hand in your absence and it is very unfair and extremely risky to leave a garden in someone else's care. There is an exception to that too. Community gardeners can easily tend to watering each others plots for a few days at a time and, being fellow gardeners, they are dependable.

Jim

In the distant past I felt that the best time to take a week off was the latter part of June.

Recently I did not check on the 7th planting of sweet corn for about 3 days. You guessed it...Even though the cucumber and corn root worm beetles had not bothered the silks on the previous 6 plantings, they nearly decimated the silks and were eating on the more tender leaves of the 8th planting.

I check my garden at least twice a day unless it's raining. I don't walk through a wet garden in fear of spreading some plant disease. I am willing to leave it for long weekends. No problems with that so far. Just water well and go. But if I'm planning a longer vacation, I do it outside the growing season if possible.

if have correct set timers and an Automatic Rain Monitor
you can take a vacation and the garden will be fine in the water department.

I enjoy my garden too much to not see it every day, plus I am not big on traveling, I like being home. My garden is my vacation spot of choice...some days I am out there several times.
The way I see it, if your friend is happy in the garden, and he is not hurting anyone, then he is making good use of his life. If he is on the verge of losing his wife/job/house because of it, then yes it has gone too far, but not everyone feels the need to travel and get away....even(especially) to see relatives LOL!

Unfortunately I live 1/2 hour away from my gardens so they can go many days without a visit.

{{gwi:101377}}

The biggest problem with this is pests and critters. When you don't get out there for 4 or 5 days they start to overrun the garden.

This year I have just given up on fighting them as I seem to have many other projects to do, with my time out there limited, so maybe next year pest control will be a higher priority.

If it is too dry (not a big problem for us) I make sure to go out and water.

Other than that I guess it is survival of the fittest..

Wow, I must fall into the small garden category. I was ill or taking care of family for the better part of a week and nothing was a total loss. It did rain a bit which helped.
I check my garden daily but could easily leave it for 2. For three I enlist the help of my neighbor who grew up on a farm (albeit 60 years ago hehe). I guess I lose enough seeds and seedlings normally and need to replant I don't worry about it. Of course I don't depend on my garden to live. It's a hobby for now.

"...I like being home. My garden is my vacation spot of choice..."

You said it best. Why would you want to be anywhere else? It's such a precious, peaceful place to be. When someone says, "Let's go somewhere," I say, "We are somewhere."

Jim