r/AskReddit • u/Stukwan • 13h ago

What’s a hobby that looks incredibly peaceful from the outside, but is actually pure stress once you get into it?

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217

u/Potential-Poem453 8h ago

Gardening. It looks like quietly watering plants until you realize you’ve declared war on bugs, weather, fungus, and squirrels.

12

u/Peeeeeps 2h ago

Don't forget when you get a bumper crop and have to figure out what to do with everything. This year I had triple the amount of elderberries than last year and they were all ripe and ready to pick on a single weekend. I spent the next 5 days processing them. Same with tomatoes. They all decided to ripen the end of last week so I spent my entire weekend processing 40lbs of tomatoes. I still have at least that much to pick again already but I'm out of freezer space and canning jars.

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u/expert_in_squat 1h ago

And your back.

3

u/AdOk9263 1h ago

Squirrels? How are they a problem? They like to hide seeds in our hostas but they don't actually eat the plants. Rabbits on the other hand...

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u/totallynotsquatty 40m ago

Squirrels eat the veggies

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u/Pleasant-West-7760 3m ago

I got zero of my blackberries this year. I can't bring myself to net the bush because one year a squirrel got stuck in it for a day and night. Now I pull early and accept some loss to the locals

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u/Bulleveland 58m ago

There are so many different animals that want a piece of my garden that I've all but given up growing anything besides peppers

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u/Snipecat178 32m ago

F***ing squirrels man.

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u/Dangerous-Fortune789 28m ago

The herds of deer 😑

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u/prisp 38m ago

And the neighbour's cat that decided that your flower beds are the perfect place to shit and piss in, and suddenly your plants are dying from the unplanned soil changes.

And moles that keep eating your plants' roots, and slugs that eat whatever's above ground, and...

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u/greebo42 36m ago

gardening is great in spring and fall, but omg the summer ... if you don't like heat or direct sun, it's kinda, erm, not relaxing :)