April 4, 2011 - My OCD

I like things lined up neatly in a row. I want everything in my world to be plumb and even, and properly spaced. I walk around with a level and a yardstick in my hand when I'm putting up any garden structures or planting rows of veggies. That is, if I have a spare hand.

So how did this happen?

My first 8-foot 1x2 didn't quite make the span from one end to the other, so I drilled a hole in each end and fastened them to the cross bars with cable ties. I couldn't hold everything in place while zipping the ties, and this is what I ended up with. I know it's not going to show once the tomatoes grow that tall, but in the meantime it's driving me crazy. You know I'll have to go out there, cut the ties and make an adjustment, don't you? And while I'm out there, I'll have to find something to prop up one side of that planter....the one that is listing to the left. I also will not rest easy until the raspberry trellis posts are set straight, although I'm not yet sure what I'll do about them. They can't be buried, due to the old tree roots underneath. They are already strapped and screwed to the bed, but that just makes the entire bed move when the wind blows. I think my only remedy might be either (a) pound a T-post into each corner and lash the trellis crossbars to them or (b) install large screw eyes to the bottom of the bed boards at each corner, then run guy wires from the post to the screw eyes.

Our irrigation water came on last week, earlier than usual. I gave the entire garden a good sprinkling. Good thing I did, as the water went back off yesterday, just as everything was drying out again and new seeds had been planted. It wasn't exactly off, but was running at just a trickle, so I ended up spending about an hour out there this morning, giving all the new plants and seeds a good drink from the hose. Then, just as I'd finished, it started raining.



While it was still just a light drizzle, I took two of the 2"x12" boards that had been saved from the west garden destruction, and (with level in hand this time) installed them at the ends of the small shed garden. I had planned on buying more cherry timbers to finish that off, but it never happened. I think this will work just fine, and after everything gets a coat of matching paint it should look OK. This is my "pot garden", where I put pots of stuff, like flowers or herbs or peppers. A tomato plant will go on each end, outside of the bed. Leona the Meyer Lemon tree (in front of the open shed doors) is spending her days outside now, and her nights inside the shed. When the night temperatures stay up around 50F, I'll be leaving her outside, probably in the pot garden, under the window.

26 comments:

  1. I had to enlarge the photo to see what had you in such a fuss LOL! You'll be FINE! (says one OCD to the other) :)

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  2. 'pot garden'....lol!

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  3. I wish you'd sit down for a minute! Your working me to death just watching you, however, everything is really looking neat and tidy :o)

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  4. Erin, the stupid stick is crooked! How dare it be crooked!

    Ya, we are OCD, says the Granny who must put exactly 8 asterisks between comments ;-)

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    Katrina, I almost stuck in a disclaimer there, but I figured I'd just let your imaginations run. Now, if you want to read about Granny and THAT kind of pot, just go to:

    http://annieskitchengarden.blogspot.com/2008/10/october-23-2008-granny-and-drug-squad.html

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  5. Ginny, who has time to sit? It's raining now, so I scrubbed my dirty floors, and now must vacuum and dust. Sometimes those things just have to be done. Darn it.

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  6. You are a HOOT! Funny related story - when I was a kid we lived in Bremerton, and our neighbors were moving and gave my mom a plant. What a beautiful plant it was, we had it over a year before someone noticed it and Identified it for my mom :) LOL.....

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  7. It looks good. I'm not OCD at all, and so end up with a more "natural" looking garden. Thankfully, my gardening partner has enough OCD for the both of us lol.

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  8. Erin, that shows you we are from a very naive generation, your mother and I. ;-)

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    Lisa, I'm that way with my flowers. I don't want them to line up at all! I'm only OCD with my veggies and the plots where they live.

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  9. I try to git things measured up too but things happen. It will be fine. To water then it rains, oh boy. Everything looks so great.

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  10. Toodie, we don't get much rain on this east side of WA state. I think it only rains after I give in and water everything!

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  11. Oh my, OCD runs in our family like wildfire! Things need to be lined up, arranged by color, height or category. My five year old granddaughter cannot use the potty unless it has not one speck of toilet paper in it. So, I think you are perfectly fine !!!!

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  12. Kris, even my dogs have OCD! They have a pet door that they use all day long, EXCEPT when they get up in the morning, and their final pee run before bed. They wait at the back door for me to let them out just those two times.

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  13. I also get fixated on the details. It will drive me nuts if it's not perfect!

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  14. LOL----and now you know why we love you so much. There's a lot of that going around! Sometimes the mister tips a picture in the house to see how long it takes me to notice. (not too long!)
    He thinks it's funny, until that "headache" shows up again!
    ;)

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  15. Don't come to my garden, granny. It would give you an apoplexy. ;)

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  16. Oh we have some real OCD people in our family. They hate me. You did see my pea trellis didn't you. Short tall short shorter. Not straight at all. My daughter when she is bad (because she is really OCD unlike you) begs to clean off my desk. I won't let her touch it. She can make the curtains exactly even if she wants but my desk is the one spot that is allowed to be messy.

    Though I do like straight little rows in my garden. I think it looks so pretty that way. I even take a tape measure and make sure they are the same distance between the rows. And today you can see how I make sure they are straight.

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  17. Funny :-) You would go crazy in my little house: everything in it is crooked, from the floors to the shelves to the pictures on the wall. And that's not even mentioning the outdoors.

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  18. Perfect is sometimes not right!

    The Father, when he was live (obviously), used to say: "Just make it dog-rough".

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  19. Meems, it could be worse, we could be "hoarders"! I love to watch that show, it makes me clean my hu0se every time!

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    Sue, Mr. Granny moves MY recliner, so it lines up straight and points more toward the TV. Drives me crazy. I have it at the perfect angle to look right to me, if he wants to see the TV he can turn his head ever so slightly! Either that or go to his man-cave and leave my TV (and chair) alone.

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    Ribbit, no it wouldn't. I like "free form" gardens, too. Just not in my garden!

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    Daphne, I measured and put string down the planting lines in bed #2, and I counted spaces in the wire fencing to find mid point on one end. Then I tied the string to the wrong side of the wire, so the center line is off by 2"! Now, I'm sure once the chard has grown, a 2" difference in an 8' span will be virtually unnoticeable. Except to me.

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    Dianefaith, whoever built our house didn't have a plumb or a level, I swear. It's quite noticeable on floors that have a tile pattern, because the squares along one side of the room aren't equal. I also have a doorway that isn't plumb, and if I set an item of furniture next to it, it looks as though the furniture is tilting.

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    Oh now, IG, we know the father did at least one perfect thing in his lifetime....he created you!

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  20. The thing is, I think I was born OCD, but then I grew up and married someone way more OCD-er than I am. I've been in backlash for years. If it's crooked and funky, I'm happy. Funny how we play off of other people. I do love seeing your straight rows, though,
    so the backlash doesn't apply outside the family :-)

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  21. Dianefaith, I inherited my OCD tendencies from my mother. It wasn't easy living with her, so I try to mix up my straight line veggie obsession with a few free form flowers and angled beds ;-)

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  22. Granny, I wish you were my neighbor, so I could irritate you to death!LOL!
    I never measure anything, just plant in anyway until all the space is covered and then some ! lol!

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  23. I used to work with a teacher that wanted her desk to look just so. Her pens had to be the same way, her calendar at a 90 degree angle to the desk, her chair pushed in the same. She left before I did each day, and I would move her pens, pencils, calendar, and sometimes her chair. Just because I loved her.
    ~~Lori

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  24. Lori, you stinker! I think Mr. Granny does stuff like that just to get on my nerves ;-) Sometimes he unloads the dryer for me, and he hangs all my shirts wrong side out!

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  25. LOL! You're not alone, obviously. There are alot of us out there. I prefer things all neat and straight and level, too, but after being married to an ADHD guy for a while, I kind of gave up. It was a losing battle; he's way more ADHD than I am OCD, so he wore me out trying to set right the messes he makes. Now I'm not quite so bad...

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  26. SB, maybe that's what Mr. Granny has! He never can do anything to please me, so he doesn't even try any more ;-)

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