The best part of growing something may be becoming familiar with its ordinary needs.

Growing something is usually taken up for the harvest and kept for something else entirely. What accumulates is knowledge of one particular plant in one particular spot: when it wilts, how much water is too much, which leaves mean nothing and which mean trouble. That familiarity is a form of attention you cannot buy or hurry. The tomatoes are almost a side effect.

Spend a few minutes with what you are growing on days when nothing needs doing. Learn what it looks like when it is fine, so you can tell when it is not.