Might as well. The time will pass anyway.

One of my go-to gardening mantras.

Do you know how long it takes for a perennial garden bed to fully flourish? Three years (more if rabbits are cutting everything down).

Do you know how long it takes for a perennial seed to grow into a flowering plant? On average, about two years.

But Trillium takes seven years.

How long does it take for a raspberry shrub to grow fruit? Two years.

What about a serviceberry tree? Three to five years; eight years for peak productivity.

Is my drift catching? These time frames feel like eons when we’ve just broken our lower backs digging out thirty-six plant holes.

Waiting? In this economy? Gross.

Cue perspective shift.  

What if instead of ‘waiting,’ we think of it as ‘set it and forget it.’ Of course, don’t actually forget the plants, just incorporate their care into your normal garden maintenance.

But this shift is actually perfect because in two years, when the raspberries bear fruit, they will taste so much sweeter.

That heart-gushing feeling of ‘SURPRISE, I’M HERE!’ from a plant you invested time, money, and physical labor in but low-key forgot about, is incomparable. Now is an appropriate time for squeals of delight. Plus, that excitement (and nourishment) will now happen every year. It truly doesn’t get old.

The secondary feeling we’ll have is “I’m so glad I planted that.”

If you do something like this every year (in the garden or elsewhere in life), you’ll have a pretty lovely line-up of years with these moments of pure delight.  It’s like planting future birthday presents for yourself. Start thinking now about how you want to treat yourself in two years.

Because you might as well, the time will pass anyway.