Tending
Everything in the garden runs on its own clock, and that clock is set for a trip away rather than for a wait at the screen. Tending is what you do when you come back before it is done: tap whatever is working, and it finishes a little sooner.
Three supplies, three vessels
| What is working | What it takes | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| beds and the greenhouse | water | the Rain Barrel, filled by the rain |
| the chicken coop and the cow pen | feed | the Feed Bin, stocked with coins |
| the mill and the dairy | oil | the Tool Chest, stocked with coins |
The barrel fills itself while you are away, so there is always something to come back to. The bin and the chest are stocked at the till.
How much, and how often
One tend takes 5% off what is growing, and the same thing can be tended 4 times in all. You cannot spend all of those at once: after a tend, that bed or yard waits a while — 15% of its own growing time — before it will take another. A long crop therefore waits longer between tends than a short one.
Something with only minutes left will not take a tend at all, so a charge is never wasted on a crop that was about to be ready anyway.
What it is worth
Tending does not make your garden produce *more*. What it buys is having things ready when you look, instead of later — and a reason to look in on the garden between harvests.
A friend visiting your café can water a bed too, and their watering and yours are counted separately: a friend's help never uses up what you could have spent yourself.