Nicola sent me the following clipping from a London commuter paper because she got a kick outta this creative reporter's headline.

I found the content amusing in many aspects, such as ... they think this is news?

What do YOU gardeners think?

No cheaper (some days) or more beautiful addiction as far as I'm concerned.

Clarify please Gail, which of the above are you refering to?

do I have to clarify? Let's just leave it to the imagination!

Well let's see Gail, your garden is closer than the casinos, so maybe its a matter of logistics? ;-)
Considering that most addictions are destructive, rather than constructive,, I'd have to vote that it is the healthiest one I can think of!

Should we try to define the symptoms of a gardening addiction? What behaviors would indicate a gardener possessed?

My joy used to be buying small plants and watching them develop and flower. Now it's buying large plants and seeing that the slugs can't eat all of them. I always got a kick out of the planning and planting, and the sitting and watching it all grow, not, I have to say, the maintenance and particularly not the lawn mowing, hence the almost total lack of lawns. Having said that about lawns, I have to admit that nothing else looks as good as a flower border behind an expanse of well maintained grass.

I agree that maintenance is the lesser pleasure of a garden, but if it was a choice between being out there doing maintenance, and not being out there at all,,, I'd gladly rebuild all the beds with mana to earn my fix! I'd much rather be teetering on wobbly ladder while fending off thorns, than chasing a vacuum cleaner around! That's how bad mine is ;-) I knew I was seriously hooked when I first realized I'd rather be doing much harder labor in the garden, than light labor in air-conditioning. Or when I realized I 'd rather receive manure, more than bobbles for pressies!

I realsied it had got me when plants arrived by post, and I spent 15 minutes rushing around the garden to get them in, before I had to dash to work, then spent hours at work wondering if I had planted them in the best places. Then I would rush home to see how they looked. I would spend hours wandering around checking the progress of all the latest plantings and be impatient if a new one was due to flower for the first time. Have you ever thought about how much time and effort you spent on the plants that are no longer with you, I would imagine that I now have in the garden about 10% of the varieties and species bought over the years. That tends not to happen too often now, as I don't buy so many plants and I usually know what will survive, but not always as the weather can vary so much from year to year. This year was bogland time, next year could be much drier, but most of my stuff seems to take it all in it's stride with only one or two losses these days.

I so relate to much of what you say Terry. Esp how our gardening-drives evolve in stages.
I remember when the family resorted to learning how to cook some of their own meals. ;-)

Addicted? There are sooooo many signs. When you are outside in the garden for 6 hours and it feels like 30 minutes. When you pray for a mailbox full of flower/seed/plant catalogues and a wet day to enjoy them. When you buy, but don't need. When you have to remove a plant in order to squeeze one more in the bed. When you go for one certain plant, come home and have to make more than one trip from the trunk of your car to the back porch with new babies. When you'll drive an hour for a good nursery. When you'll use a good blanket just to save a plant during a cold snap. When mulch is preferred over diamonds.

Oh Yea... that's the idea EXACTLY!
And then there's Larry and me out there today in 50 temps, clearing out one of the terraced beds instead of sitting by a fire, all cozy and sane!

I relate to you there Gail, on the digging one out to get one in, sometimes digging one out and squeezing three in.

Been there, done that, got the T shirt.

Bet you don't turn compost in sandals or bare feet Nicola and have to resort to brown toe nail polish for camoflage!