The community garden plot almost got away from me this summer, between grad classes and part-time shifts I kept telling myself I’d water it tomorrow, and tomorrow kept turning into never.
What worked was not treating it as its own errand. I water on my way home from my shift now, before I even go inside and put my bag down. The plot sits right along the longer sidewalk route instead of the parking lot shortcut (which I used to take just to get home faster), so there’s no separate trip to talk myself out of.
It sounds small but it changed things. When watering had its own slot on some mental list, it competed with reading for class, laundry, sleep, and it always lost. Tied to something I was already doing anyway, it just happens now.
Weeding still gets away from me some weeks, I won’t pretend otherwise. But the tomatoes haven’t gone thirsty since I started this, and seeing the plot green when I walk by does something for my mood on the harder weeks.