The Millennials swapping doom-scrolling for gardening

When Hannah Matthews lost her father and grandmother in the space of a year, she found comfort in her back garden.

"My mind would be really busy, and I'd suddenly be out here at 7am pulling up weeds," said the 31-year-old.

She is now an enthusiastic gardener, and one of thousands of young people sharing their green-fingered ways on social media.

Hannah, a former English teacher with more than 70,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok, said the gardening community was "booming" and represented a way of "recapturing some space that feels less tense" on social media platforms.

"It brings me joy, and hopefully when someone else is just kind of doom-scrolling, they get a bit of serenity in their day as well," she said.

"I was born in '95, so my generation are the kind of ones who know what it's like to grow up with both analogue life and digital culture," said Hannah, from Newport.

She said hobbies such as cooking, sewing and gardening were her generation's "rejection of this hyper-digital world that feels really all-consuming".

She said it was a "tough time for young people" due to the cost of living, climate change, a "dire" jobs market and AI.

"I'm not saying we've had it harder than all other generations," she said.

"But it is challenging being young and maybe having different expectations to those that our parents and grandparents' generations had, and different opportunities."

Hannah said gardening offered a "safe space" to "take control of your little space of land or your balcony or your pots in the kitchen or whatever you're able to have".

It became that for her, she said, when she experienced the loss of her father and grandmother in 2023.

"I didn't use gardening as a conscious means of therapy but I kind of just found myself out here, pottering around," she said.

"It's cliché but kind of creating and nourishing new life and new growth is just really the circle of life."

Hannah considers gardening to be similar to preparing for a race.

"You'd normally train for a marathon 16 weeks out, which is roughly a season ahead, which is kind of how gardening works as well.

"You're planning joy into your life for the next season to be bountiful."

She acknowledged that owning a house and having access to outdoor space was "a real privilege".

"When I first starting posting I had some comments 'It must be nice, bank of mum and dad' sort of thing.

"I hope to inspire that gardening can kind of be done in whatever space you have - pots on the kitchen window sill, things like that - just the act of making something with your hands and planning it and seeing it flourish is amazing."

Naomi Saunders from Felinheli, Gwynedd, started gardening during lockdown and quickly found herself in possession of more than 300 houseplants.

"I started documenting my houseplants and my veg on Instagram quite early and gardening definitely was not a massive thing then," said Naomi, 32.

She has since gained thousands of followers, and was recently invited to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show to create content.

She thinks young people in particular are drawn to gardening content because they're "more conscious now of putting their phones down".

"It's an online community that really supports each other as well," she added.

"Gardening is something where people genuinely want each other to do well."

For Rachel Griffiths, 37, gardening became a "crutch" in 2020 when the "world was very crazy" due to the pandemic.

The mum-of-two from Church Village, Rhondda Cynon Taf, said she had navigated postnatal depression, anxiety and undiagnosed neurodivergence over the last few years, but gardening had offered her hope.

"I didn't need to make plans with friends, didn't need to try and see people, didn't have to get dressed, have a shower, and make a big deal about going out."

She said when the baby was asleep, she could "pop into the garden for 5 minutes" and have a "little moment" to herself.

She said the garden had also given her family hope during this summer's extreme heat.

"I'm not going to save the world with my garden but maybe if everybody had a little go, then it would help," she said.

"There are so many little things you can do at home which do make a difference."

When Georgia Featherstone, 26, moved to a new area for work, she was initially unsure of how to make new friends and decided to start a gardening club for women.

"The current gardening clubs that are out there are for people with a lot more horticultural experience, more experts, and a lot older," said Georgia.

In the last two months, more than 450 people have since joined her Girlie Gardening Club group chat in order to attend local events in Surrey.

"If you're a millennial, or you're the older part of Gen Z, you're kind of over going out to the pub every weekend," she said.

Georgia is hoping to plan more events in the future, including talks from horticulturalists and floristry lessons.

"With social media, everyone feels connected, but also so disconnected at the same time.

"You can swap knowledge, you can share seeds and cuttings, and that's when you really get the best of the hobby.

"People are looking for community and gardening brings that."